Claire summed up the engagement story really well. The other side of it is as follows:
Since Claire and I started dating, she would drop subtle hints that her Grandmother owned a ring with two diamonds on it, one of which was destined for her engagement ring. (Claire took some liberties in her post, like the part about my hands shaking, so I will take some liberties too).
As soon as Claire and I decided to move to France last summer, I knew the proposal would happen in Paris. In October we planned to visit Claire’s mom Michelle in Brittany and I saw this as an opportunity to talk to Michelle and also potentially grab the diamond. I told Claire I would go to Brittany two days earlier than her because Claire worked till Saturday. I thought this might raise some red flags but luckily it didn’t. In Brittany I asked Michelle permission to propose to Claire and thankfully she said yes or oui as they say in France. The next day we went to the security deposit box and grabbed the ring with the two diamonds. One diamond is for Claire and the other is for Claire’s brother Yann. The ring is wild, it has been best described as the Harry Potter ring to be used as a Voldemort horcrux. We then drove around the town of Vannes looking for a jeweler to take the diamonds out but couldn’t find one. We then made a plan to do the whole process in November in Paris.
Fast forward to November and Michelle visited us at our apartment. Michelle’s friend recommended us to a jeweler in the 3rd arrondissement which is the jewelry district of Paris. Seemed proper. We made up a long story to Claire about going to buy Christmas lights or something. Claire went to work and Michelle and I went to the jeweler. The jeweler’s office was a far cry from the Tiffany’s at Printemps but luckily so was the price she gave us. The jeweler took the horcrux ring back to the workshop and after breaking it’s spell, most likely being infected like Dumbledore’s hand, came back with the ring and one loose diamond. We picked out a setting and were on our way. Later I tried to explain how Michelle and I had a three hour lunch because the timeline I presented to Claire was full of holes.
Now we fast forward again to December 16th and the ring is finally ready. I really wanted to propose before Christmas but I was leaving for the Alps on the 18th and Claire was working until the 24th. I decided to do the proposal the next day and started my preparations. Luckily I practiced my Kinder egg skills for weeks and the night I picked up the ring I hid the ring in an egg and stashed it upstairs. After waiting months to receive the ring and propose, I only had the ring for 2 hours before hiding it in chocolate to be opened the next day.