“You really don’t like him, do you?”
“I know it’s not his fault. He just had the misfortune of giving bad news.” She sighed. “Here we are, talking about it.”
“It’s alright,” I said.
She leaned further into me. I wished there was a way for me to take her worry and put it on myself. I didn’t have that power, though.
I caressed her shoulder, and she closed her eyes. We sat like this, for a while, long enough to watch the Earth pass three times. When the third rotation was over, I touched Anna on the shoulder.
“Hey.”
“Hmm?”
I waited a moment, to make sure she was really listening.
“I know we said not to talk about it. But…you’ll still be there with me, at the end?”
She turned to look at me. “What are you thinking? Of course I will. Even if I die.”
I felt a chill at those words. Yes, this was our final battle. People would die, most likely. But Anna…I couldn’t let her die. I would do anything to keep her alive.
“Just…I don’t want you to die,” I said. “There’s no reason for you to.”
“Alex, I’m going with you, and that’s final. If you don’t stay alive until the end, what’s the point of any of this?”
It was a good question, one which I couldn’t answer. Finally, I nodded.
“Alright. We’ll both go.”
“And anyone else who wants to,” Anna said. “We’ll need everyone down there if we’re to make it.”
I pulled Anna upward, until she was sitting in my lap. She faced me, wrapping her legs around my torso, keeping her eyes on me.
“We have a few days, Alex,” she said. “Let’s enjoy life, while it’s here to be enjoyed.”
She kissed me, deeply and passionately. I held her close.
“Anna…” I said.
She pulled back, looking at me. “What?”
The Outer Ring turned, and once more, the Earth came into view. There were no clouds. Only a shining blue sea.
“I…”
I was about to ask her a question that I’d been thinking about for a while — something that had only been in my dreams, since it could never be reality. But if I only had a few days left of life, then I needed to ask her.
Maybe it could be reality. If I could live in a dream, let it be for a few more days.
“Anna…this is going to sound crazy, but…”
I paused. I couldn’t stop now. I couldn’t deny what I felt, despite everything we had to go through.
“I want you to marry me.”
Her jaw dropped open. She looked at me, in disbelief of what I had just asked. My heart pounded; I was unbelieving myself. Had I really just opened myself up to look like a fool like this?
I waited for her to say no, that it was the stupidest thing that anyone had ever asked her.
“I…” she started. She still looked into my eyes. “Are you serious?”
“Anna,” I said. “I need you by my side. I need you as my wife.”
“Alex, how is that supposed to work? We’d be married for less than a week!”
“I can only tell you what I feel. I love you — deeply. I…want to be married to you. I want to be close to you, as close as I can ever be.”
Anna just looked at me, still in shock.
“I would say yes, but…how could we be married for just a few days? Doesn’t that just make it more painful?”
“I understand if you say no. It’s…asking a lot.”
Anna grew quiet. She didn’t remove herself. She laid her head on my shoulder, and held me.
“I love you, Alex. Even…even if this doesn’t happen, I just want you to know that. You’ve sort of dropped a bomb on me. You can’t expect me to answer without thinking about it.”
“I know,” I said.
She pulled back, looking into my eyes. I knew she would say no, in that moment. She was distancing herself from me. She would still help me, in the end, but why would she add to that pain of it by saying yes?
“Alex…let’s do it.”
I looked up at her, almost in disbelief. I wasn’t sure if I’d heard her right.
“What? Really?”
“Love is enough, isn’t it?” she asked. “Who cares about anything else? Maybe…maybe this could have a happy ending. I know it’s stupid to think that, but if I’m in love, I have a good excuse to be stupid.”
“It’s not stupid. I think.”
“So, we’re really going through with this?”
I nodded. “I’m serious.”
She smiled. “Okay. When?”
“I’ll let everyone know when they get up here. We’ll set up something small.”
She laughed. “They’ll think we’re crazy.”
“Except that we are crazy. I’m serious, though.”
Anna smiled. “I know. I am, too.”
“Good.”
“Well…now that we’re engaged, what should we do?”
I shrugged. “Don’t know. I’m kind of hungry.”
“Ugh. That’s an Alex answer.”
“Aren’t those the best kind?”
“Maybe.”
“Are you saying you’re not hungry?”
Her brow furrowed, as if in deep thought. “Yeah. I guess I am.”
Anna didn’t move. She held on to me tightly, as if pinning me to the bench.
“But give me a kiss, first.”
I pulled her close, pecking her on the lips.
“Like you mean it. Like you want to marry me.”
I kissed her deeply, strongly.
“That’s more like it,” Anna said. “I guess we can go eat, now.”
“After that, we’ll let everyone know.”
We let the crew know about our decision later that day when they updated us on how things were going below.
“You what?” Makara asked.
“It’s true,” Anna said. “We want to get married.”
Shocked silence was the only answer from the other end. I had no idea what they were thinking.
“When?” Samuel asked.
“We were thinking as soon as you guys got up here,” I said. “It wouldn’t have to be anything major, so that it wouldn’t distract from the mission…”
“We’ll do it,” Makara said. “It would be good for morale, and a great way for everyone to let off a little steam.”
Anna and I looked at each other. She was holding back laughter from the way Makara put it.
“One word,” Michael said. “Party.”
“Michael!” I said. “Didn’t you realize you were there.”
“Now you do, I guess,” Michael said. “Congrats, buddy! How’d you pop the question?”
I was thrilled that everyone was so enthusiastic about it. I thought they’d think I was crazy.
“It’s been something I’ve been thinking about for a while,” I said. “We were just watching the world pass by and the time seemed right.”
“Where’d you find a ring?” Julian asked.
“Er…what?”
“Tell me you got her a ring, Alex.”
Was I missing something? Getting a ring seemed a little old-fashioned. The only rings you could get these days were off the fingers of dead people, of whom Jade was a case in point. I definitely wasn’t going to give Anna one of that greaseball’s rings.
“Don’t listen to them.” It was Ruth. “It’s the commitment that counts.”
“Yeah, I don’t really care, either,” Anna said. “It didn’t even cross my mind.”
“We’ll whip something up for you, buddy,” Michael said. “Don’t worry about a thing.”
I was honored, and humbled, that everyone was already celebrating. I didn’t think it would be that big a deal, but apparently, it was. Everyone seemed truly happy about it, which was more than I could wish for.