Planned Surprise

I came home one night and I never even picked up on the fact that there was no mention of the whale-watching job. The flat was spotless and there were candles lit. We had a great meal with a bottle of Rosemount Estate red; it was all waiting on me coming in. We watched a bit of TV and sipped our wine before I had the glass taken from my hand and was dragged into the bedroom. A very rare occurrence at the best of times. As we lay and cuddled afterwards - spoon position, me behind, the conversation went something like this:
"Charles?"
"Ja."
"I got the job."
"What?"
"I got the job."
"What job?"
"On the boat, I got the job."
"WHAAAT?!!!"
At this point there was no containing her and she was like the family mutt that thinks it is going to the park with the kids and a ball. I was still in a state of shock and disbelief. Both of us remember this moment to this day. Claudia maintains my expression was brilliant. I was not just shocked that she had the job, but that she had managed to contain herself. She could NEVER keep things to herself and most certainly not things like that. She was way too bubbly and full of excitement when things happened to keep a surprise for a whole evening. She couldn't stop talking about that either. She was so pleased that she could keep the surprise for the right moment and plan and execute a perfect evening for it. I was dumbfounded, but inside my fear that she would not get the job was immediately replaced by a fear that it would all fall through. I did not tell her though - that would have been wrong, this was her evening and she had made it a beautiful one for us both. She was so happy that her eyes filled with tears and we had to hold each other for ages. A beautiful evening. I was relieved for myself and very pleased for her.