Nathan Jones - First Winter

All in all an engagement would ease his parents’ minds, and a wedding even more. Truth be told it would make Trev more comfortable with the situation himself, since it would be one less reason for them to restrain themselves when they were already sorting through plenty of others.

With that in mind his mom was more than happy to help him cook a romantic dinner and set the mood with some beeswax candles. For her part Linda had agreed to lure Deb away for a few hours while they prepared everything, on the pretext of giving Sam and baby Olivia some company and helping out the new parents. Sam was a delighted co-conspirator, and promised to keep Deb occupied for as long as possible.

It was kind of hard to keep a secret from someone living in the same room, and Trev was pretty certain Deb not only guessed something was up, but also what and why. He’d tried to make it seem like his preparations to propose to her were simply part of planning for yesterday’s Halloween festivities. But judging by the knowing look his girlfriend gave him as Linda tugged her out the door, he had a feeling the cat was out of the bag. At least that look was equal parts nervous and excited.

He was glad he wasn’t the only one who felt that way.

As soon as the two were gone he burst into a flurry of activity, gathering up the ingredients he’d set aside and helping his mom get started on them. After she finally shooed him away from the stove to do most of the cooking herself he hurried into his room to get things ready there.

He’d borrowed a small folding table and a couple plastic chairs from Lewis, and had scrounged up a reasonably romantic centerpiece of dried wildflowers and homemade potpourri. Combined with the flickering candles filling the room with a dim, warm light, and his phone playing soft music in the background, he thought he’d done a pretty good job setting the mood.

Trev put much more effort than usual into cleaning himself up and shaving, changing into his suit and looking himself over in a small camping mirror to make sure he wasn’t a complete mess. Then he did a bit of neatening up the beds and his few possessions, brought in rocks that’d been heating against the stove to put under their chairs as footwarmers, and finally left the door open between rooms so the stove would warm the area. Then he went in to help his mom with the final touches on dinner.

Just in time, since he’d barely finished preparing the plates when he heard Linda loudly speaking outside, his sister doing her best to sound casual as she not so subtly warned him the two were on their way back.

He hurried into his room, shutting the door to the kitchen behind him, and tried not to fidget as he took his place by the table, nervous anticipation quivering through him as the outside door scraped open and Deb stepped inside. Over his girlfriend’s shoulder Linda gave Trev a thumbs up before scurrying away to the front door.

For her part Deb did a reasonable job of acting surprised, and but he didn’t think her nervousness and excitement was an act as she tried to play it cool.

“Wow,” she said, shutting the door and taking a tiny step forward. “If I’d known you were going to spring a formal dinner on me I would’ve worn an evening gown. Although that’s probably a good thing since I seem to have misplaced mine.”

Trev grinned at the icebreaker as she pulled off her coat and gloves and briefly sat on his cot to tug off her boots. “I don’t know, you’re really pulling off the “bundled up for zero-degree weather” look.”

She grinned back, letting him pull out her seat at the table for her and slide it back in as she sat. “It’s to show off all the curves I used to have before I started this diet I’ve been on for the last few months.” Her eyes fell on the empty table in front of her. “Speaking of which…”

“Right.” He hurried into the other room to bring out the dishes that had been warming on the stove, winking at his family as they silently waved in encouragement. Although he did pause to mouth a “thank you” to his mom and Linda for their help this evening.

After he served the food, seared venison steak and instant mashed potatoes smothered in barbecue sauce, with canned peaches and evaporated milk for dessert, they both did their best to play casual. Like this sort of night happened all the time and wasn’t leading up to something important.

Trev took it as a good sign that his girlfriend hadn’t immediately bolted from the room at the sight of his elaborate preparations, for what was obviously going to be a second proposal attempt. One more properly and, he hoped, romantically done this time.

Even so, he inwardly sweated bullets as he counted down the moments to when she set down her fork and he judged the time was right.

Under the tablecloth he fiddled with the engagement ring he’d bought from Ned when the trader brought Lewis’s reloading materials. Trev was still convinced the man’s impressive stock came from raiding a high-priced jewelry store during the chaos just after the Gulf burned, or trading with someone who had. But on the other hand it meant Trev had managed to get ahold of the sort of diamond whose cost was counted in months of salary, all for the price of a few weeks’ worth of food.

Assuming it was real. Lewis had looked it over and seemed to think it was, but his cousin was by no means a professional appraiser. It was a good sign that Chauncey was also fairly confident in it, as were Scott and Ed. Not that he’d been showing it around or anything, to reassure himself he wasn’t about to slip a cheap dollar store trinket on the finger of the woman he loved.

He’d held onto it for almost a month wondering if this day would ever come. Now that it had, each minute ticking by until the big moment felt nearly that long.

Finally Deb set down her fork and fell into an expectant silence. Trev took a last sip of water from his glass and smiled in nervous self-consciousness, then slipped from his seat and down to one knee in front of her. He very casually managed not to trip over the table leg like he’d been slightly afraid he would, and his hand didn’t shake at all as he held it behind his back for the moment.

“Debra Rutledge,” he began, further relieved to find his voice was clear and steady. “I don’t know if you remember, but the first time we met you gave me a hug and kissed me on the cheek.”

“I remember,” she said, face going slightly pink in spite of her radiant smile. “It was a really good candy bar.”

He smiled back. “I had a bit of a crush on the woman I met that day, warm and kind and full of enthusiasm and affection. I didn’t think I was ever going to see her again, and counted myself lucky when I did.”

Her smile flickered slightly, and he caught a hint of pain in her eyes. “You almost didn’t,” she whispered. But then she recovered, taking his free hand and resting it on her knee with both hers holding it.

Trev nodded solemnly. “We’ve been through difficult times, but some of the people closest to me have confessed that they consider themselves lucky to have found someone who can stand with them through anything this life throws at them.” He gently squeezed her knee. “I’ve been equally blessed to find someone I can love and rely on, who’s made a difficult world a joy to live in.”

Tears started gleaming in Deb’s eyes, and he hurriedly produced the ring and held it up to her. “Will you marry me?”

“You’ve been so patient with me, Trev,” she whispered. She barely glanced at the ring, eyes on him, hands squeezing his tightly. “Thank you for not giving up. Yes! Of course yes! I—” She abruptly hesitated, glancing down at the ring again, and brown-flecked green eyes shimmering with tears abruptly grew huge. “Holy cow! Is that real?”