The engagement

After requests for the details, I'll start the story of our adventure together with the story of our engagement.
Paul and I have been talking about our lives together for a while, so the fact that Paul proposed was not a big surprise. But the way in which he did it was sweet.
New Year's, after everyone had gone home from the party, Paul gathered my family and I in the livingroom so that we could open presents. When it got to mine, I opened four books from Paul. They were in unusual order for wrapping, and not in a size-based stack, and there were inscriptions in each of them. The inscriptions, read in order of the books that were wrapped, formed a Shakespearean sonnet about enduring love. On the top of the first book was a sticky-note saying "Since you like a puzzle..." The problem was, what was I supposed to figure out?
The books were :
1) New York Times crossword puzzles edited by Will Shortz
2) Barometer Rising by Hugh MacLellan
3) The Book Club by Mary Alice Munroe
4) We Bought a Zoo by Benjamin Mee

The hint was that the order was important. So after a bit, and with Paul getting worried that he was going to have to tell me, and me nervous because I was getting that this was going to be a proposal, I figured out that the authors' names asked the question:
Will Hugh Mary Mee
I said "Of course", but Paul had a sweet speech about why he chose to do it at my parents' home and with them around, which had my mother crying. Then he got down on one knee and asked "Will you marry me?".

It was a proposal that sets a new standard, in my mind. That he put my love of my family as a priority was extra special. So...we haven't discussed the wedding yet. One stress at a time!