“I knowbut I can’t take an hour out. I’ll be up past midnight if I do. Youknow I have to be up early tomorrow morning,” Amberrebutted.
“It won’tbe that long a walk. I just want to go down to the lake and back,half hour tops,” Greg refuted.
“Greg,”Amber whined with a little sigh.
Greg laughedlightly at the whine in her throat then began rubbing her shouldersand neck again. Amber huffed lightly and shook her head, breakingout of his touch. She rolled her shoulders and went back to thework in front of her.
“Come on,you love walking in the snow. Look it’s even snowing those bigfluffy flakes you love. It’s a sign,” Greg piped up.
Amber lookedout the window in front of her and saw that he was right. Bigclumps of snow were cascading down in a swirl of sparkling whiteflakes. Amber bit her lip and began calculating out how much timeit would actually take them on the little walk. She finally sighedand heaved herself out of the chair.
“Fine,but we can’t stay out there too long. I want to be in bed before1AM tonight,” Amber relented.
Greg let out alittle whoop of excitement and rushed to pull on boots, a winterjacket, a scarf and gloves in no particular order. Amber chuckledat his enthusiasm and tugged on her winter boots. She wound a scarfaround her neck next then donned her winter coat. She tugged on awinter hat before shoving her hands into gloves.
Greg placed hiskeys in his winter coat and Amber made sure she had hers. Greg ofttimes forgot where he put his keys then could not find them. Amberswore there was some kind of black hole in his coats that swallowedup his keys at the worst possible moments and spit them out when hewas about to get a new set.
They strode outof the modest apartment and took the elevator down to the mainfloor. Greg wrapped an arm around her shoulders to hold her closeas they stepped into the snowy weather.
The cold airwashed over her, chilling her cheeks instantly and tousling theloose hair she had not managed to tuck into her hat. She shiveredslightly but a smile came to her lips and she snuggled closer intoGreg. Their footsteps crunched in the freshly fallen snow and Ambernoticed theirs were the only set of tracks. No one else lovedwinter as much as she did to brave the snow after 9PM.
The walk to thelake was brisk and only took about ten minutes. The lake itself wassituation in a park that was normally filled with children. Tonightthere were only a few teens gathered in a group beside the swingset. Amber peered at them and noted that they were actuallyswinging and not doing anything illegal as she had firstthought.
The view of theteens disappeared as they stepped onto the path that would lead tothe man-made lake. It only took a few more minutes before the waterappeared and Greg stopped on the path to look into the depths.Amber cuddled into him and in the distance saw the other side ofthe half frozen water.
Suddenly Gregpulled away and Amber blinked in confusion. She turned to ask himwhat was going on but found him kneeling on one leg in the snow.Her heart leaped into her chest and her throat tightened. Gregsmiled at her and she felt heat rising to her cheeks as he pulled alittle blue box from a pocket in his coat.
He fumbled withit a bit because of his gloves but finally got it open to reveal aslim gold band with interlocking hearts. The middle of the heartswas empty, as if a diamond should be sitting there but there was nosparkling gem.
It finallyclued into Amber that today was Valentine’s Day. She had notnoticed before as all her attention had been focused on classes. Itmade her feel silly when she had replied in the negative to thequestions about what she was doing tonight. Her friends had lookedso upset for her and she had not been sure why at the time.
“Amber,”Greg said her name lightly; reverently as if it was a prayer he wassending up to God.
“OhGreg,” Amber muttered back and wondered if he even heardher.
“You’vemade me so happy these past four years. I want to keep being ashappy as I have been. I want to be with you until we both grow soold we have to shout to hear each other. I know there’s no diamondin this ring because you know neither of us could have afforded it.But I still want you to be my wife and I promise that we’ll neverhave to think about surviving month to month. So, will you be myValentine forever?” Greg uttered quickly.
Amber felttears welling up in her eyes and found that her voice did not seemto want to work. She swallowed hard a few times and noddedquickly.
“Yes,yes, yes,” she finally exclaimed in a laugh as the tears tumbleddown her cheeks.
Greg stood andkissed her before pulling off her left glove and reverently slidingthe ring without its diamond onto her finger. Amber let out alittle yelp of excitement and wrapped her arms around his neck,kissing him heatedly on the lips. He wrapped her in his arms andthey stood there kissing for a few long moments.
Finally theypulled away and Amber looked down at the ring on her finger with amixture of awe and joy. The lack of a diamond had not surprisedher. Whatever Greg had in his personal savings account would havebeen completely demolished on the band alone, never mind affordinga diamond.
“It’sperfect, even without a diamond,” Amber told him and reluctantlypulled her glove back on.
“You’llget a diamond for it, I promise. It may take a few years but Iwon’t leave it bare like that,” Greg assured her and wrapped her ina hug again.
Amber noddedand decided against arguing with him about the need of a diamond.She would much rather stay cuddled in his arms for the moment. Hepulled away slightly but Amber realized it was only to guide themback down the path towards home. She leaned her head on hisshoulder and sighed happily.
She touched thering through her glove and grinned again as the snow fell
