Eliot Strange and the Prince of the People

38) The Converation

I walk towards the roof and gesture for Patrick to come down. "Marla, can you be lookout while I have a talk with Patrick?'

Marla, who looks like a fifteen year old embarrassed girl trying to steal my boyfriend, quickly agrees with a, "Uh, sure."

Patrick shimmies down the roof in a flash and stands in front of me. I look over to the fire pit and catch a glimpse of Torin looking my way. It feels like a few others there are sneaking a glance my way too. Probably all waiting with their cell phones to take a video of a man on his knees proposing to the girl of his dreams. Everyone loves that shit. Even I love that shit. But not today.

Lord, please let me let this boy down easy. Will he cry, I wonder?

I can't do this in front of God and everybody, but before I can say - can we talk in private, Patrick says, "Eliot, I need to speak with you alone. Can we go somewhere private? There is something important I must say to you." He takes my hand and leads me around the back of the house. It is quiet back here, but I wonder if Marla can hear us. Patrick must think the same thing because he continues walking away from the house. We stop at a bench under a tree overlooking the beautiful countryside. It is the ideal place for a proposal.

I start to speak, but Patrick stops me with, "Eliot, this is very hard. I have been over this conversation many times in my brain, and before I lose my nerve, can I go first?" His hand shakes a little as he reaches inside his pants pocket and pulls out a ring box.

Good God, the poor boy is going to bust out crying when he learns my answer is no. I want to stop him before he embarrasses himself, but I don't know what to say.

Patrick opens the box like there is a drumroll in the background. Damn. It is the biggest diamond ring I have ever seen. I don't know a thing about diamond rings or carats, but it is as big as a penny. No wonder everyone has been talking about it. Any future bride would be proud to wear it. But, I bet it's heavy, might interfere with me pulling my knife out in a hurry, I think, which is a weird thought to be thinking when you're at the receiving end of a proposal.

"Patrick," I say trying to think of what to say next.

"I found it in Charlottesville, shortly after I left you. After my first battle. Don't worry, I didn't really steal it. It was in the road, along with a lot of other jewelry and stuff. Some guys were picking things up, but the older guys told us to leave it, said it would only weigh us down. I saw it and I thought of you, so I picked it up, put it in my pocket. Told myself it was a ring for my girl."

"Thank you?" I say. Now what to say next? I don't know. Poor guy. I just hope he is not going to cry. I let Patrick keep on.

"This ring saved me, Eliot. It kept me going when I didn't think I could take another step. The thought of putting it on your finger kept me going. I started to talk about it to my buddies, told them all about you. I believed if I said it enough that I would get back home to you. I showed this ring to everybody I met. I showed your dad."

"I know. He told me."

"I asked him for your hand, like a gentleman should."

This is news to me, and I am curious. "What did he say?"

"Just what you'd think he'd say - y'all are awful young."

"We are," I say. Maybe this will be my way out. "I'm only just now turned eighteen. And you..." I wait for him to fill in the blank that he is only fifteen like Gus told me.

"I had a birthday too. I turned twenty-three last month."

So he is not going to tell me, huh? So, I tell him what I know. "You know, Gus told me that we didn't meet by chance." I wait to read what his expression reveals at this shocking news. A little embarrassment, it says.