A Pearl of Great Price The snow had begun falling in earnest the day the boys left. At home, Julian had spent an entire afternoon, along with her parents and the Barahenis and a few other families, collecting salted gravel from the city and spreading it along their sidewalks in the hopes of keeping the neighborhood at least somewhat passable; Julian had cast a discreet charm on her bulky, ugly work coat and equally unlovely work gloves, but her hands had still been red and sore before they had finally, holding each other to keep from slipping, returned to the house and started peeling off their snow wear. The city was a mess, the Priority One areas in enough of one that there weren’t quite enough snow plows to go ‘round; mail delivery had been upset, and Julian’s mom had, for the first time in at least two years, missed morning Mass. It had put her out of temper all day, and Julian had not been as patient as she knew she should have been with her over it. Everyone in Calgary, or at least everyone Julian knew, was purely miserable.
In one part of the world outside, though, the scene couldn’t have been more different. Julian shrieked as a snowball missed Justin altogether and hit her, knocking her hat off and spattering rapidly-shrinking white patches into her dark hair and over the shoulders of her blue coat. Justin and William were both laughing; Lenore was, too, but with her hands over her mouth.
Shivering, her teeth chattering together as snow slid down her neck and cold air found some unsecured place between her trousers and boots to go up her leg, Julian grabbed a handful of the soft, powdery ice covering the lawns and returned fire, just as Justin also took aim at his sister. Somehow, though, Justin ended up hitting William - neither Justin nor Lenore could, Julian thought fondly, aim worth a damn – and soon, the fight devolved into chaos, everyone against everyone else all at once. When they limped into the house at last, they were as stiff and cold as she had been after shoveling the drive at home, but everyone was smiling, and Julian didn’t have to smother a single flicker of the strange resentment which so often overtook her at home as she distributed the cocoa and took her own cup last, even though everyone in her family always thanked her, too.
Swatting aside the uncomfortable intruding end of the thought like a bothersome fly, something she did with practiced ease now, she sank down onto a couch and then into William’s side as he put an arm around her. She tipped her head upward to look at him, as best she could from the angle, anyway. “You’re warm,” she informed him.
“I think you’ve confused us,” said William, with an overly-dramatic shiver.
“Poor dear,” laughed Julian. “Will this help?” She adjusted her position so she could kiss him.
“You know, I think I might thaw out eventually,” said William when she withdrew, and Lenore made a noise of disgust from where she was curled up under a blanket with a thick, dreadfully dull-looking book.
“You two are revolting,” she informed them. Her hair still looked like a scarecrow’s after the snow fight, with less than half of it looking like it had remained in her plait. Julian wondered how she’d ever get the tangles out once it finished drying.
“She’s just bitter,” said Justin.
William and Lenore exchanged a look. Julian had never gotten the knack of interpreting their looks, but supposed she and her brothers must be as hard to read for an outsider. “Aren’t you two supposed to meet more suitors this week?” asked William.
“Oh, yes,” said Lenore, sounding utterly disinterested. Julian wondered, sometimes, if Lenore was actually gay, or one of those people who really didn’t seem to have much interest or something, or if it was just that she didn’t like anyone she’d met yet. She was, after all, still rather young – though Julian did forget it, sometimes, when she kept hearing about everyone they knew getting married at nineteen or twenty. Sometimes, instead of remembering how young Lenore was, Julian forgot how old she was. When she did that, she felt less as though she didn’t really belong here. “Maybe Justin will give me a sister.”
“Or maybe you’ll meet a prince in disguise,” said Julian, rising and going over to catch her cousin’s hands. Lenore screeched in protest as Julian pulled her to her feet, sending her blanket and her book both toppling to the floor. Julian spun her around, ignoring her altogether, as the boys dissolved into laughter again. “And he’ll sweep you onto a dance floor,” continued Julian, “and – “
“You are insane,” exclaimed Lenore, spinning away from her and landing, hard, back on her couch. She still had Julian’s hand, though, and so pulled her down with her; Julian grabbed the back of the couch to keep from falling on top of her and end up beside her instead.
She was still smiling after Justin and Lenore left. “We really have to do this again,” said Julian, picking up cups. “That’s the most fun I’ve had playing outside in – goodness. Years, even.” How long had it been since she and her brothers had had a proper snowball fight? Everyone always seemed to be so busy….
“It was a good afternoon,” agreed William.
“It was. I almost wish I didn’t even have to go home,” said Julian.
“You don’t, if you don’t want to,” said William.
Julian bit her lip, not sure what to say to that. She was suddenly very aware that they were alone together. “Of course I do,” she said. “My parents are going to wonder why I’ve been gone this long anyway. They’ll worry about me with this snowstorm.”
“They don’t know where you are, do they?”
“No,” said Julian, not looking at him as she put the cups on a tray. He always seemed to know these things these days. To her surprise, his reaction was to chuckle.
“I bet it was the same two years ago today,” he remarked, and Julian looked up, momentarily confused. “Our first date,” he clarified.
Julian smiled, delighted. “You remember that, too?” she asked.
“Of course,” he said. “One of the most important afternoons of my life, you know.” Julian smiled tolerantly this time, sure he was exaggerating. For her…certainly if it had not happened, she would not be where she was right now. She sometimes wondered how her life would have gone had she not gone to meet him at that coffee shop. She was distracted from that, though, as William continued talking. “I expect today will be, too, one way or another,” he said, and she knew what he was going to take out of his jacket a moment before she even saw the box, never mind the just-short-of-distastefully-large pearl and diamond ring inside it.
It was very sparkly.
“William,” said Julian, and she hated how breathless she sounded.
“Do you like it?”
“I – I do,” said Julian, and she sat down. “But – “
A thousand things occurred to her. What his family would say. What her family would say. His career. The fact that they had never seriously talked about the future and what they wanted to do with their lives and how those things would fit together….
“Your family,” she managed. “I – I know they’ve been kind to me, but – and even more than that – you’d have to convert – “
Julian never thought of that until she said it, and wondered why she had said it so bluntly, as though that were an absolute deal-breaker. For Mom or John, she supposed, it would be one, but….
For Julian, the church was…she didn’t even know. God knew she didn’t agree with a lot of what His church had to say – hard to avoid that, considering Charlie and all – and she did not go too often or pay much attention when she did anymore, but could she really go so far as to marry a non-Catholic? She’d break her mother’s heart, and who knew what John would say….
“And you couldn’t just – just go to a priest and admit you were converting to – because of me,” she said, not even able to say the words to marry yet. “I…our priest, I don’t think he’d even accept you like that….”
“Which is why I started the classes already,” said William. “You’ve led me to the light, my dear.”
Julian knew he was not being serious and knew she had an obligation to tell him so and explain why joining the church – or lying to a priest about why he was doing so – or whatever he was doing – was serious. Instead, she stared at him. “William!” she repeated, dazed.
“Julian,” said William. He put the ring aside and took her hands in his. “I love you. I want to build a life with you here. It’s going to take a lot more than having to take a few classes to put me off that plan.” He picked the ring back up and held it between them. “So. Will you marry me?”
Julian stared at the ring for a long moment before she answered. She thought through all the problems again, and then she thought about the benefits. Of having a place of her own. Of having life quite possibly be the way it had been today all the time….
“Yes,” she said finally, and wondered at how easy it was.