A few weeks before the actual proposal, Lee took off with his sister (didn’t know he had a sister did you?) and found the ring, the right type and style right here in Nassau.  He hid it away cautiously from Chrystonia in his carry-on (secretly dreading security asking to see in the bag) on the way to Abaco.  We all arrived safe in Hope Town to partake in the Hope Town Turtle Trot and enjoy the festivities at the Box Car Derby.

If we backtrack a few days, we end up back to Wednesday, the morning of heading to Abaco.  Lee, in his infinite wisdom, had left it till the last minute to talk to John, father of the bride-to-be.  Chrystonia’s sister, Joanne, had been in on the whole shebang from the beginning, via Whataspp from the cold town of London.  She realized John was in Exuma and unreachable, so that option was out.  Lee tried to shake Chrystonia for more than a few minutes while in Abaco to make the phone call (which would inevitably make or break the plans), however this proved impossibly difficult.

Back to the Box Car Derby, Saturday afternoon in Hope Town.  After a few cocktails, some rain, and fraternization, we headed back to the event – Lee made up an excuse to go back for his phone, to which he was scolded, and then to get a camera, to which Chrystonia offered hers, not realizing he was trying to get a few minutes to call John.  Lindsey (sister-in-law) stepped in and dragged Toni away, scowling of course.

The dreaded phone call went well, and John gave his blessing.  Little did we know at the time that John happened to be at a party with his family and friends, and word spread fast and ambiguously, ending up in the story being that Lee piloted a plane to Exuma to get permission before proposing (and we’re sticking with it).

So that night, after losing Lee’s brother Matt, finding him, losing a golf cart, not finding it, somehow getting another golf cart, we snuck off to Abaco Inn for dinner.  The others went to Firefly and we were going to meet up with them after dinner.  We had a cocktail and placed our order, and we’re waiting on dinner.  At this point Lee was planning to have dinner, go outside, walk around, find someplace romantic, get down on one knee, the whole nine yards.

A conversation strikes up about cooking more at home, and Lee offhandedly mentioned being “barefoot and pregnant and in the kitchen”, to which Chrystonia throws her hand in the air in a twisting motion, exclaiming “Ain’t no ring on this finger!”, staring proudly at her airborne hand.  Well, Lee couldn’t just let this one slide…and out of the pocket and onto the table came the box.  Chrystonia didn’t look down, avoiding eye-contact, assuming Lee was messing with her, and then he asked.  The first question out of her mouth was “Have you talked to John Robertson!?!?”.  To which his answer was unequivocally yes, despite the backstory.

And the rest is recent history.