My heart stops and stutters in my chest as I stare at the kind, brown eyes of the man before me. His lips are curled into a knowing smile with a tiny dimple on his right cheek, and I can’t help the automatic pilot smile that comes over my face. Flashes of questions pop into my mind that looks a lot like this- Am I in love with him? Or do I just love him in a friends kind of way? Could this work? And my favorite one: Where else am I going to find a guy that will ignore the fact that I have three cats? “Yes! Oh, God yes!” I try for the proper inflection in my tone, although what I’m actually feeling is terror. Apparently the quiver in my voice is mistaken for excitement by Oliver and his family. They all get teary eyed and clap each other on the back as they hug and congratulate Oliver and me. Most of them are of British origin, other than a few women or men who have married into the family. Oliver’s third youngest brother pulls me into a tight bear hug and squeezes the air from my lungs, effectively rendering me speechless.
