Their steps were synchronized as they trudged down the beaten country road. She had no idea where they were or where he intended to take her. All she understood was that the car was out of gas and a steady sprinkle kept the narrow path patched with shallow puddles in its low areas. March was always an unreliable time of year to take part in any outdoor activities, especially in traveling down an long driveway toward what appeared to be an abandoned house in a Jeep whose digital instrumentation, coincidentally, was flashing an orange, fuel-pump shaped indicator.

The weather had not yet begun to show any indication of warming for spring, which made the damp day an unusual misery. He had given her his coat, however, it was soaked. She felt horrible for shivering as she walked beside him. He wore a t-shirt and khaki corduroy pants, whose hems slopped through the rocky mud because of the weight added to them from the water, gathering more as they dragged, but the fact that the idea for the trip was his creation made her feel a little better.

“Where exactly are we going?” She finally insisted, stopping on her place and spinning her feet in the mud to face him. He raised his dripping head to look at her from beneath the shaggy blonde gutter barely covering the tops of his eyes. He was awkward, even when motionless. She feared that his shoes, which reminded her of water skis, could give way, causing his slinky frame to topple over into one of the small lakes in front of him. However, even past all of this, all she saw were his eyes, made of cloudless afternoon sky. Their blue made his candy cobalt sneakers appear as dull as one of the murky, gray potholes filled with rain. They looked into her, a feeling in which she knew well.

He licked his lips nervously, then involuntarily drew the corners of his mouth upward into a grin. The blue, glassy marbles on either side of his nose quickly rolled downward to point at his feet. Then, as she watched curiously, he unhinged a gentle fist to slide his fingers into the ribbed pockets of his pants. Their tips fished hopefully upon his thighs until they got a bite. He reeled his arm from his pocket.

Her body was frozen, however, the rain had stopped and the sun barely peeked its sleepy head over the tops of the milky clouds. She wasn’t cold anymore, but she shivered at the sight of the small drip of hope harnessed upon the shiny, gold band of every emotion he had ever expressed to her easily supported between his thumb and the underside of his index knuckles. She wasn’t going to try to hide the swoon. He slowly lowered himself until one of his knees touched onto one of the drier areas on the gravel, then his face grew into an even larger smile. She still almost couldn’t believe how much his face lit up as his eyes found their way upward, back toward hers.

“If you will let me take care of you for a while, at least until I die, I’ll let you wear this ring for as long as you like. What do you think?” His face was beaming with something that resembled confidence, but he tripped over a few of his words. “Will you marry me?”

She couldn’t even begin a nod or shake of her head. Can she move? Was she ever taught how? From the scene, it wouldn’t appear so. Her heart was swelling like a balloon whose lips were snapped tightly around the spout of a running kitchen sink. In fact, it is safe to say that was exactly what had begun to happen to her heart. It was being filled with every thought, every memory, every emotion, every smile. It spilled over with every song he sang to her, every kiss he stamped on her forehead, every faithful “I love you” that danced its way into her ears. How could she even make room for his question in a space occupied past the brim? However, she let her mouth open itself and form the words to a hopefully appropriate answer.

“If you want.”

The slow motion stopped. Everything went rushing from both of them. Her warm tears fell like the chilled rain of the recent past, which had gathered beneath her feet, moving themselves to meet his as he stood. He gathered her wholly into his embrace. His arms felt like they could wrap around her twice with a little slack left over. They were warm and familiar, unlike the feeling she began to draw. New, a little cold, open,… the future. That’s what he offered, and she could think of nothing she’d rather have.

He stepped back from her slightly to grab her left hand. He slid the band onto a finger attached to a hand that was a part of ther still-shivering body. Her mind slid in and out of conscious thoughts.

Does that answer my question about why we’re here? That ring is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.  Why am I still shivering? A wedding in June, how lovely. Whose house is that? Where are we? I want to go to Spain. The Mediterranean Sea is just gorgeous. He’s so nervous, look at his hands shaking. Oh, I love him.

He released her hand and she held it high to her face to take it in. It was three-tenths-of-an-ounce heavier than earlier that morning. She looked to the bottom the blue oceans in the face of the boy in front of her. She knew she was alive.