Matty finally cried herself to sleep.

Bill had to barricade Jarge in the bathroom, because Matty walked around for over an hour with a huge butcher knife in her hand, calling Jarge's name.

She was determined to get her ring back.

Bill finally calmed her down and assured her that eventually Jarge would shit out the ring.

Instead of reassuring her, it actually made her cry louder.

Bill blamed himself for the whole incident. He really should have known better. 

Though Bill forgot it at times, Jarge was a seagull and all seagulls were attracted to shiny things and the 2 karat blue diamond engagement ring was really shiny.

Bill was kicking himself. All too late, he realized that he should have locked Jarge in the bathroom, before proposing to Matty.

Well, if nothing else, it would make one strange story to tell people.

Bill stayed up all night, constantly checking the toilet. For hours nothing happened. At one point, a very tired Bill even considered feeding Jarge a laxative, but he wasn't sure what dose would be safe. Matty had threatened earlier to feed Jarge a full bottle of laxatives. Bill had to hide them away.

Finally a little after 6 am, it happened.

Bill heard a very large squawk from the bathroom. As soon as he opened the door, Jarge waddled past him and went to his bed.

Bill gave a quick check to be sure that the poor bird was not bleeding. Once he was assured that Jarge just had a sore ass, he went back to the bathroom.

Bill took the ring from the toilet and immediately put it in a warm solution of water and dish detergent, just as the internet had suggested that he do.

He let it soak for twenty minutes, then gently cleaned it with a soft toothbrush. He then repeated the process three more times before he was confident that there would be no more seagull shit on the ring. He even went as far as to inspect the ring under a magnifying glass to be sure the ring was just that, all ring / no shit.

Bill snuck quietly into the bedroom. Picking up Matty's left hand, he tried to slip the ring on her finger without waking her up.

"There better not be any seagull shit on my ring."

Matty opened her eyes and looked at the ring.

"It is absolutely beautiful."

She looked at Bill, tears filling her eyes. At that moment she loved him more than anything in the world.

"You look like shit."

"I love you too," Bill chuckled, as he sat on the bed.

"Have you been up all night?"

Bill nodded.

"Get up," Matty said gently.

She pulled up the covers. She was dressed only in her bra and panties.

"Come to bed."

Bill quickly closed the bedroom door, undressed and got in bed. He kissed Matty gently and lay on his back.

He was asleep in seconds.

Matty kissed his cheek and lay on his chest, listening to his heartbeat. A couple minutes later, she was asleep as well.

Bill could hear voices when he awoke. He looked at the digital clock on the nightstand.

"Wow. Four o'clock."

He got up and put on a pair of sleep pants and a t-shirt.

As he opened the door, he heard Nanny Dove.

"'e bes a wonderful young man, Matty. I bes so happy fer youse."

"I am so happy, Nanny Dove and I love him so much."

"I hope you are talking about me," Bill commented, as he walked into the living room.

Matty jumped up and ran to Bill, kissing him passionately on the lips.

"Actually we were talking about Freddy Simpson."

She kissed Bill again.

"You want a coffee?"

"Yea. I should have one."

"You go talk to Nanny Dove and I will get you one."

"Morning Nanny," Bill smiled, as he lit a cigarette.

"Youse knows Ise don't likes youse smokin' in me 'ouse."

Bill sat on the couch.

"Youse knows dat Ise don't cares and dis not be your 'ouse anymore, old lady."

Nanny Dove grunted.

"Ise don't knows whats my gran'daughter see in youse."

Matty walked in with a coffee and passed it to Bill, kissing him again.

"I see my husband," Matty smiled.

She sat next to Bill on the couch.

Nanny Dove laughed.

"Yes, me dear. A 'usband dat feeds yer 'gagement ring to a seagull."

Jarge let out a moan and covered his head with his wings.

Nanny Dove looked at Jarge.

"Ise 'ave made a seagull stew out of 'e, ifin it 'ad been my ring."

Jarge moaned again.

Nanny Dove laughed.

"I swears, me son. Dat crazy gull knows everything wes says."

Matty agreed.

"I believe he does."

She took Bill's hand in hers.

"I had an idea."

"And what is that?"

"Why don't we take off for a week?"

"Take off?"

"Yes. Get out of here. Just you and me," Matty suggested, excitedly.

"And where would we go?"

Matty laughed.

"We could go to Jamaica and look at condos."

"That sounds like a plan."

Bill looked over at Jarge.

"And who would look after that?"

"Well, we could take Nanny's advice and make a stew out of him."

Matty laughed.

"Or we could let Tanya look after him. She already agreed to do so."

"What about the old lady there?"

Matty rolled her eyes.

"Nanny likes Tanya."

"Really?"

Bill turned to Matty. 

"Nanny Dove likes someone?"

"Not youse, me son."

"Okay you two."

Matty put her hand on my chest.

"Tanya is a real sweetheart and she was so much help to me while I was gone. There are six of them in Billy Rideout's house. It tends to get a little crowded at times. It would be a real break for her to stay here by herself.

And she is taking some online courses in tourism and management. It will give her a chance to get some alone time to study. I have already made her my assistant and when she is finished with her courses, she will be the tourism manager for the Bay.

And she likes Jarge. She even said she would take him for walks."

Tanya Rideout 

Bill chuckled. "Sounds like you have it all planned out."

"Well I have been up since about ten, waiting for my man. I had some time."

A thought suddenly hit Bill.

"Shit. I have a guy from the power company coming tomorrow. We need to come up with some ideas just in case ..."

"I already talked to him. We postponed the meeting for two weeks."

Matty laughed.

"I looked at your planner. I talked to Frank and told him that we would get in touch with him when we got back. He mentioned about new filtration systems and I told him to gather the info for our next meeting. And I talked to the cable company and they are getting me estimates for fibre optics, both below and above ground.

And, apart from that, you have nothing else on for the next week or so."

She kissed Bill's cheek.

"And we really need some time to ourselves, before I move in."

"Move in?"

Bill sat forward, quickly snubbing out his cigarette.

"You mean in here?

In this house?"

The smile quickly left Matty's face.

"Well I thought ...

seeing that we are ...

you know ...

engaged."

Bill stood up, turned away from Matty.

"Thats a pretty big step, Matty.

I mean ..

I don't know if I am ready for that big a commitment."

Bill felt Matty's hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry. I just thought ..."

Nanny Dove stared at Matty.

"Dat man of yours bes a bit of a shit-disturber, 'eself."

Bill glared at Nanny Dove.

"I had a good teacher."

Matty hit Bill in the shoulder and spun him around.

"You fucker.

Maybe I won't move in, after all."

Bill took her in his arms and kissed her long and gentle.

"So. Where do you want to go?"

"After that bullshit, somewhere really fucking expensive," Matty laughed.

"Really fucking expensive."

Bill kissed her again.

"You decide. Wherever you want to go."

Matty and Bill could have gone anywhere in the world. Paris, London, Tokyo, the Caribbean, Jamaica, Niagara Falls.

The two ended up in the capitol of Newfoundland,  St. Johns. They stayed at the Sheraton Hotel, in a corner room, with a view of the harbour.

They explored the old part of St Johns, enjoyed the nightlife at the unique pubs and restaurants, took tours of the outlying villages and saw what they were doing to attract tourists.

But most of all and above all else, they spent hours alone in their room, discovering what their life together, held in store.

They discovered that their life together was going to be beyond amazing.