It was dark by the time they reached home, but the night was warm and the doors of the house were open. As they approached the front door, they could hear Tommy and Helga bickering over the remote. Jack turned to Rose.
“Why don’t we go around the back?” he asked her as Helga began to yell at Tommy for channel surfing. Rose nodded, suppressing a smirk, and followed Jack to one of the side gates.
They walked through the backyard, leaning against the wall near the porch. The back door was open, but it was quiet now, Tommy and Helga having ended their argument and agreed on what to watch.
Jack looked at Rose. Even in the dim light from the porch, he could see that she looked pensive, her blue eyes thoughtful. Her curly red hair was tied up atop her head against the heat, but half of it had come down and was hanging down her back.
Looking at her, Jack realized that she had not yet given him an answer to his proposal and wondered if he should bring it up again. There was something special about Rose, something that he had recognized from the start. They were more than just a couple; they were close friends who had been there for each other through both good times and bad. His parents had had such a relationship, sticking with each other through thick and thin, and though he had often been embarrassed by them when he was a teenager, after they were gone he had realized just how good it had been and how they had transferred that closeness to their child. He knew that his own relationship with Rose was similar and knew that he wanted to spend his life with her. But he also knew that her experience with being engaged and with being a part of a family had not always been pleasant, so he understood why she was hesitant now.
He was about to bring up the proposal again when Rose spoke up. “Jack,” she began slowly. “There’s...I’ve been thinking...we need to talk about something else.”
“What?”
“You know...an important thing...we...we haven’t...brought it up.”
“What important thing?” Jack was getting confused.
“You know...”
“No...I don’t know. What are we talking about?”
“I guess it’s stupid...”
“What is?”
“...but it’s important. At least, I think so.”
“Rose, I hate to say this, but you’re really starting to confuse me here. What are you talking about?”
She took a deep breath. “Okay...do I...do you...find me interesting?”
Jack gave her an odd look. “Of course you’re interesting.”
Rose shook her head, realizing that he hadn’t quite understood her. “No. That’s...not quite what I meant. I’m talking about...ah...intimate relations.” She blushed.
“Intimate relations?” He was still confused for a moment. Then he realized what she was talking about. “Oh...yes. That. What about it?”
“We...we haven’t...made love...since that evening in May...almost four months ago.” She could feel her face turning red and was suddenly glad for the darkness that hid it. “I...I wondered if...well...if I...disappointed you.”
“Disappointed me?” He looked surprised. “No, not at all. That was the best I ever—” He clapped a hand over his mouth, suddenly aware of what he was saying.
Rose leaned her head against the wall, only half-looking at him. “Yeah,” she said. “For me, too.” She put a hand over her red face. Glancing at him out of the corner of her eye, she could see that Jack was turning red, too. “But...you seemed so hesitant then...and after that...you didn’t seem interested at all.”
“The reason I was a little hesitant then was because, after what you told me, I was worried that it might be a bad idea, that it might hurt you in some way.”
“You didn’t hurt me,” Rose assured him. “If I’d thought that you would, I wouldn’t have...seduced you.”
He nodded. “Later, after I got hurt...you’re right, I wasn’t interested, but it didn’t have anything to do with you. No one interested me. For that matter, not much of anything interested me, no matter what it was. I just didn’t feel well.”
“You were pretty sick,” Rose agreed. “That one night, the night before you tried to kill yourself, I was almost expecting that you would want to...come to bed with me. But you just backed off and walked away.”
“I was having second thoughts about suicide even then, and I knew that if I spent the night with you, it would be even harder to do what I thought needed to be done.”
“I was a bit hurt that you just walked away.”
“I know you were, and I’m sorry. I wouldn’t have been very pleasant to be around anyway, though, since I spent a good part of the night getting sick and then falling apart. I kept reminding myself that it would be over soon, but it didn’t seem to help.”
“And if you had joined me that night, I might have found out just what was going on and talked you out of it.”
“I didn’t want anyone to know until it was too late to do anything about it.”
Rose felt a chill, remembering a night when she had felt the same way. Pushing the memory to the back of her mind, she told him, “You’re better now.”
“Yes.”
“But even...even over the last few weeks, when you’ve been home, you never...showed much interest in me.”
“Things were a little uncomfortable between us for a while. If you wanted to make love, why didn’t you say something?”
“I wasn’t sure how you would react. I guess I was a little embarrassed. I kept waiting for you to make the first move—like when you drew me wearing that necklace. I don’t think your mind was just on drawing.”
He blushed. “Well, half of it was. The other half was telling me to put down the pencil and join you on the couch.”
“But you didn’t.”
“No, I finished the drawing. It would have been unprofessional to abandon it for...other activities.”
“And besides, Tommy might have walked in on us—again.”
“Can you imagine how much that would have embarrassed him? If he was shocked by just seeing us sitting up in bed, covered by the sheet, what do you think he would have thought if he’d seen something more?” Jack shook his head. “He…uh…he saw me bring girls home before, but that never bothered him. Maybe he has a crush on you or something.”
Rose groaned. “I hope not. That would be…really awkward, to say the least.” She turned to Jack, opening her mouth to speak, but he was already saying something.
“You know, we could...” He pulled her into his arms and kissed her.
Rose threw her arms around his neck, kissing him back and remembering what she had been missing all these months. When they broke apart for a second, she urged him towards a darkly shadowed area of the lawn.
At that moment, Helga opened the screen on the back door. “Tommy’s going out for a bit and I’m locking up. Don’t forget to lock the back door.”
Jack and Rose turned towards her, Jack mumbling something unpleasant under his breath. “You have the worst timing. Do you know that?”
Helga looked confused for a moment, then grinned knowingly. “Sorry.” She turned and went inside, leaving the screen open.
Jack and Rose looked at each other, the mood broken. “She’s not sorry,” Jack complained. “She’s getting back at me for teasing her and Fabrizio about coming out here for marathon make-out sessions.”
Rose rolled her eyes. “What did you do that for?”
Jack shrugged. “Well…it seemed funny at the time.”
Rose gave him a quick kiss. “Maybe we should wait until our wedding night,” she told him.
It took Jack a moment to comprehend what she’d said. “Then your answer is—”
“Yes,” Rose interrupted him. “Yes, Jack, I’ll marry you. I love you.”
Jack smiled, and then, before Rose could say another word, he picked her up and whirled her around, laughing with joy. Rose shrieked in surprise.
“Jack! No! What are you doing? Put me down!”
He did, but only after whirling her around one more time. Rose stumbled against him dizzily, giggling.
He caught her. Rose threw her arms around him, kissing him soundly.
After a moment, they separated and Rose spoke to him again.
“There’s just a few things.”
He frowned. “What things?”
“I want a short engagement and a small wedding, with just friends and family.”
He nodded. “We can do that.”
“And,” she added, seeing him reach into his pocket, “I don’t want an engagement ring.”
Jack stopped, holding the ring he had taken from his pocket. “Are you sure?”
Rose remembered the flashy ring Cal had given her. “I’m sure.”
“Not even this one?” He held out the ring, a sterling silver band delicately etched with a pattern of roses and butterflies.
“Jack, I...”
“If you don’t want it as an engagement ring, will you accept it as a gift? I saw it in a shop near to where I work and thought you’d like it.”
“It’s lovely.” Rose looked at the ring again. Jack had obviously thought about what she would like—something simple but pretty. The ring suited her.
“I’ll accept it,” she told him after a moment. “…as an engagement ring.”
He slipped the ring on her finger, holding her hand up to the light. Rose looked at it admiringly.
“How did you know my ring size?”
Jack looked a bit embarrassed. “Uh…I looked in your jewelry box when you weren’t home and measured one of your rings. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Not at all. When Cal gave me an engagement ring, he didn’t even think about whether it would fit…it had to be resized so it wouldn’t cut off my circulation.” She gave him a hug. “Thank you, Jack,” she whispered, kissing him again.
They stood that way for a while, until they heard the front door slam, indicating that Tommy was home.
“Should we announce it now?” Jack asked Rose.
“I think so. And maybe we can pick a date while we’re at it?”
“Sure.” Jack put his arm around her, walking her inside.
Tommy was turning the television back on when they came inside. Helga came out of the kitchen as they came into the living room, a glass of water in her hand. “What’s going on?” she asked, noticing the adoring looks they were giving each other.
“We have an announcement to make,” Rose told them. She looked at Jack, a smile spreading across her face. “Jack and I are getting married.”
Their roommates stared at them for a moment, surprised. Finally, Tommy spoke up.
“Well, I guess congratulations are in order. Actually, I’m surprised it took you this long to decide to get married. You already act like a married couple sometimes.”
“Is that a good or a bad thing?” Jack asked. Then, reconsidering, he told Tommy, “Don’t answer that.”
“So, when is the wedding?” Helga interrupted.
“We haven’t decided yet,” Rose told her, going into the kitchen to look at the calendar on the wall. She flipped the pages thoughtfully, her mind going over all the things they would need to do. Of course, it would be a small wedding, but it would still take time to plan.
“How about October fourth?” she suggested, looking at Jack. “That’s the first Saturday in October.”
“Sounds good to me.”
“That’s only a month away,” Helga protested. “How do you expect to plan a wedding in only a month?”
“It’s going to be a small wedding. Just family and friends…and neither of us has much family.”
“Still...”
“I can do it,” Rose assured her.
“I think you’re crazy, but with some help, it just might work.”