Chapter 19

Friday, December 14, 2001

Marienthal was a small college, but one that took pride in a high-quality liberal arts education, something that was relatively rare in a world that seemed to be diluting the standards of college degrees. Standards were high, and the administration went to great effort to keep them there. With well under a thousand full-time students, usually only a handful had a mid-year graduation, and this year Trey Hartwell was one of them.

With only seven students graduating at the end of the semester, there was no call for a formal graduation, although graduates were invited to return in the spring if they wanted to attend a ceremony. But Marienthal wasn't the kind of place where graduates in such conditions were only invited to show up at the registrar's office to pick up their diplomas in exchange for payments on any final bills. Being realistic, the college did demand all bills be paid, but then the graduates were invited to a formal tea in the in the administration building conference room where the college president made a little show of handing out the diplomas and congratulating the new alumni.

The president, Dr. Paul Hamilton, was considered by most of the students and faculty to be a rather formal and stuck up sort. He had proved to have a sense of humor and humanity at times, if someone were lucky enough to find it, and he did take pleasure in this event. It was, after all, the ongoing goal of the college – to educate students well and get them on with their lives. He gave the graduates a little talk – it could hardly be called a speech – about how the graduates had accomplished something major in their lives, and how proud he was that Marienthal had been a part of it. Each graduate got a handshake and a few personal words, mostly inquiries about what they intended to do in the future.

There were a handful of friends and relatives at the truncated ceremony, and the faculty present far outnumbered the graduates. One of the faculty members present, it almost goes without saying, was Dr. Myleigh Harris from the literature department.

Once such ceremonies as there were had been completed, Trey did something that Dr. Hamilton didn't expect. "If I could have your attention for a moment, please," he said to the relatively small number of people in the room. "There's something that I'd like to say. Dr. Harris, could you step up here, please?"

Dr. Hamilton grinned; he was pretty sure he knew what was coming, and so did most of the faculty. Myleigh walked over to him and said, "Yes, Mr. Hartwell?"

"I have a special presentation," Trey grinned. "Dr. Harris, you have been a special inspiration to me in my time here at Marienthal, and you've gone far beyond what's required by the college to make my time here both productive and rewarding. You are, without a doubt, the best and most memorable lecturer I've ever had, so I have a small token of my esteem that I'd like to present to you." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a modest diamond ring. "Myleigh," he continued, pointedly not using the formal honorific, "Will you marry me?"

"Of course, Trey," she said with a huge grin. This wasn't a surprise; they'd worked it out well ahead of time to be able to make several points. "I would deem it both a great honor and a great pleasure, now that our forbidden love is forbidden no more."

Trey slipped the ring onto her finger, and they had a rather romantic kiss in front of the group. "You realize, I hope," Dr. Hamilton grinned, seeing that his suspicions had been confirmed, "That may be the worst-kept secret on campus, don't you?"

"We tried to not be excessively blatant about it," Myleigh replied unapologetically. "Although there were times that maintaining a modicum of propriety proved difficult."

"For the most part you accomplished it," Dr. Hamilton replied jovially. "But this is a small campus, and I don't think you fooled anyone. Dr. Harris, we're going to miss you at the end of next semester when you move on to your new position. You've brought something to this campus that I think we're going to miss. Marienthal will be a better place for having had you here. And, Mr. Hartwell, you shouldn't think of yourself as just another student, either. You're a brave man, Mr. Hartwell, and I think you're going to have your hands full with your future wife."

"There was never any doubt about that," Trey laughed. "But I think it ought to be interesting."

It took a while for the gathering to break up. In addition to the graduation, the formal engagement had added a touch of romance to the proceedings, so there was plenty to gossip about. Of course, Myleigh had to show off her ring and Trey had to endure a bit of joshing, but it was a reasonably good way to end his college career.

Eventually the event wound down; Trey gathered up the precious piece of paper, then he and Myleigh headed for the door. "Well, that's that," he said once they were outside and heading for his car. "It was a little more ceremonial than the ending of the last major act in my life. There was no thank you or goodbye ceremony when I left the Army. It was just filling out paperwork until some pimply PFC said it was over with and I could head for the door."

"Yes, it was a very nice ceremony under the circumstances," Myleigh agreed. "Have you made up your mind if you'll participate in the spring ceremonies? I shall be expected to be present, of course."

"I could, I suppose," Trey shrugged. "I'm likely to be here to move you out of here, anyway. I'm sorry I'm going to have to spend time in Spearfish Lake while you're here."

"Do not let that bother you, my hero. As far as I can ascertain from talking to Blake, you should not be torn from my loving arms overly much. I just fear the winter term is going to be dull for you whilst I have to remain here."

"I don't know," Trey said. "I suppose I could audit a class or two. It wouldn't matter if I have to take off for a while. On the other hand I don't know how much Jennifer and Blake are going to have me up there, or how much I'm going to have to do to the house to get it ready for us. That's something I hope to be able to get a reading on while we're up there the next few days."

"I confess that I shall be happy to see the winter term come to an end," she sighed. "I find myself anxious to get on to the next phase of my life."

"Two weeks from tomorrow," he reminded her.

"Yes, and I find myself anxious to see those two weeks in the past," she sighed. "I fear it shall be difficult to survive the period. Trey, forgive me for sounding vernacular, but you would not believe how horny I am. I fear that when you finally bed me that you or I will risk serious injury. I have wanted to make love to you for so long that I don't know how I shall be able to survive another fortnight, but we agreed upon it and I have reluctantly come to agree that waiting is appropriate, if very frustrating indeed."

"I can hardly wait, too," he grinned. "But we've made it this long; we can make it another two weeks." He decided that with the direction the discussion was heading he'd better change the subject. "If you don't mind, let's take a swing past the dorm room. We can haul the rest of my stuff out to the car, and I'll be out of there for good."

"It's probably the logical thing to do," she agreed. "Do you realize, Trey, that in all the time we've been friends, compatriots and even lovers, I've never been in your dorm room?"

"I know," he said. "It's nothing special. It's your basic dorm room. You know what they're like. Besides, it's pretty much Justin's room, now. A couple more loads and there won't be anything of mine there."

"I noticed that he did not attend the proceedings we just finished," she observed.

"My guess is that he tripped over an empty beer can," Trey snorted. "He used to drink a lot before he turned twenty-one, but now all bets are off. He's got some growing up to do, but I'm just as glad I don't have to deal with him anymore."

Two trips each down the stairs in the dorm finished up the job of moving Trey out of his room. "I think that's it," he said. "If there's anything left, Justin can either get it to me or keep it, I don't care. I'll tell you what, my love, I spent about as much time in barracks and dorm rooms as you did, and you don't know how glad I am to have that stage of my life behind me."

"Ah, yes," she smiled. "I do know how glad you are, as I suspect that it was about as glad as I was. I have some happy memories of my time with Crystal and Randy in the dorms where I was an undergraduate, for they were about the happiest times of my life up until a year ago. We had some excellent adventures and a warm friendship, and I fear I miss those days in a way. But we have all changed and the unexpected has happened, especially to Crystal and myself. Now, we both face new adventures before us. It was a huge thrill for me to have my own apartment, my very own space that I did not have to share with anyone. But I confess that I often found it lonely. Now, I can hardly wait to share a house with my husband."

"It's going to be a little while on that, yet," he shook his head. "You know, I've been thinking about it. I don't know how many trips we're going to be making between here and Spearfish Lake before the first of May, but it strikes me that we probably ought to start our move up there right away. At least, anything we can get out of your apartment is something that won't be crowding us out of there the next few months. Besides, it'll cut down the work when we have to move the rest of the stuff."

"That's very like you Trey, ever the practical person I so admire," she said. "At least it shall allow us to put our mark on our house in some small way. I take it to mean you're suggesting we spend the afternoon packing things so that we might be upon our way before the birds arise in the morning?"

"Shouldn't take that long," he shrugged. "Granted, we've got a lot of stuff that will have to go anyway, but we've got enough stuff that's already in boxes that we should be able to top off the load if we're taking my car. You know, I almost hate to say it, but we might be getting to the point that we ought to think about getting a minivan the next time we trade a car."

Myleigh let out a long sigh. "You know, we're already sounding like an old married couple talking about things like a house and a minivan, and we aren't even married yet. I confess, I'm not sure I'm ready to abandon my little car yet. It was the first major purchase I made for myself, admittedly with Randy's assistance, and it marked a milestone in my life."

"Yeah, I'm not all that sure how much I'm ready to give up mine, either," Trey admitted, wondering how she would feel when she found out what her wedding present from Blake and Jennifer was. They'd run it past him for his opinion, with the promise to keep quiet about it. "And for a lot of the same reasons. But we'll have to see. It might make some sense when we think about it, and we've got plenty of time for that."

Randy would have liked to have gone down to Kansas City for Trey's graduation, more for Myleigh's sake than for Trey's. But, it really wasn't in the cards, and he'd never really planned on it. While Trey was receiving his diploma, Randy was sitting in his office at Clark Construction working on preparations for the Blair gym. Things were coming along well; after having done several school projects the past few years, Randy had a pretty good idea of which buttons to push and how hard to push them. Problems would arise – they always did – but he felt like he was getting a better start than he had on some projects in the past.

Things usually slowed down around the company over the holidays; if there weren't any pressing projects, construction sometimes shut down, although administrative functions continued. What with everything, it was beginning to look like Randy would be able to take some time off and not have to worry about it. His mind was actually more on Myleigh's wedding, or at least the prank that Duane had suggested a couple evenings before. It was a very good idea, but it would take a lot of coordination and timing to pull off. He was beginning to wonder if it was worth the trouble of trying to do. It had sounded like a good idea in the hot tub, but in the light of day it had some problems.