Darrell and Jon had walked most of the way together once they’d found each other on the trail, and they were almost the last ones to arrive. Charles and Trevor came in last, just as the sun was dipping down behind the mountains. Charles looked wiped out, but a new determination had set into his features.
“Is that Charles?” Will called, and at Darrell’s affirmative nod, he suddenly looked a little more alert. “Everyone? Can you all come over here for a minute? Please?”
Eyebrows went up all over camp, but the groups crowded around Will and Laurie near the entrance. Laurie looked mystified, and Will looked suddenly, boyishly nervous. “Um...Jon, could you take a few photos of us over here?”
Jon nodded and pulled out his camera, snapping photos as Will turned to Laurie and spoke.
“Laurie, I...I was going to wait until the Sun Gate to do this. But today was the hardest hike we’ve ever had, and I know that if we can make it through that and still love each other, we can make it through anything together.” Will fumbled in his pocket and drew out a small, velvet-covered box, incongruous in the jungle setting. A gasp rippled through the crowd as smiles lit faces, and Laurie’s eyes widened as Will opened the box, dropped to one knee, and held it out to her.
“Laurie, we’ve done it all, except this. Will you—will you marry me?”
Laurie looked at the others, then at Will. The surprise on her face quickly became a grin as she said, “Yes! Oh, yes!”
Will offered the ring and she held out her hand. He slid it onto her finger, where it fit exactly. “You’re all my witnesses,” he said as he got up and caught Laurie in his arms. “She said yes!”
As she kissed him soundly, the crowd broke into cheers and applause. The mood around the table as they filed into the dining tents was considerably lifted, and groups mixed and mingled, everyone wanting to get a look at Laurie’s ring.
Later, when Jon and Darrell finally got into their tent, they were both still chuckling. “I didn’t expect to go to an engagement party during this trip,” Jon said as he turned on one of the small LED lanterns and set it on the floor. “But I’m glad I got good pictures of them. Did you see the looks on their faces?”
“Yeah, I did. I want to see the pictures. I’m going to give them a chapter in the book—they earned it,” Darrell said, pulling off his muddy boots and setting them as far away from him as he could. “Everyone was caught totally by surprise.”
“No one more than Laurie, I think,” Jon said from inside his sweatshirt as he pulled it on over his head again. “It’s going to be cold tonight. Whew!”
“It made me think of the day I proposed to Cece, actually,” Darrell said as he pulled on new socks and got his sweatshirt out of his pack. “We went walking all over Central Park— this was probably two years after we started dating—and we got to the end of this really long pathway and there was a bench. So we sat down, and then, like the doofus I am, I started stammering out my proposal because it was such a pretty place and I wanted her to always have the memory of it. Then I realized I’d left the ring back in the apartment, so I didn’t even have it with me.”
“Ouch,” Jon said. “And she still married you?”
“Crazy, isn’t it? She actually said ‘I’ve been waiting for you to ask for six months, fool. It’s about damn time!’ and then she said yes.” Darrell smiled at the memory.
“That sounds like Cece, all right,” Jon said as he slid into his sleeping bag.
“How about you and Edwin? When you got married, who proposed?”
“Oh, neither of us proposed. Ed just insisted. We got up that morning, we saw the news, and Ed said to me ‘Cancel today’s plans. We’re going to City Hall.’” Jon zipped up the sleeping bag against the chilly air.
“Really? He didn’t even ask?” Darrell said as he sat down on the sleeping bag on his side of the tent.
“Yeah. But he knew I wanted to. We’d talked about it already. And come on—we’d been together for years and years.” Jon looked at Darrell in the light of the little lantern.
“Mm-hmm,” Darrell allowed.
Silence stretched out between them for a moment. “What are you thinking?” Jon asked.
“Do you have a penny?” Darrell said.
“Uh...in my pack, sure, but I’d have to dig...”
“No, no,” Darrell said. “You can just owe me the twenty-
six cents.”
“What are you talking about, Darrell?” Jon asked. “What
twenty-six cents?”
“Do you remember how we were in college?” Darrell
asked. “Do you remember how we were before I went back to New York?”
“Yes...but why?” Jon said, his forehead creasing in a frown.
“Remember how you offered me a penny for my thoughts back on the trail today?” Darrell continued.
He waited for the memory to rise on Jon’s face. “Um... yeah?”
“Well, this is me acting it out.” Darrell crossed the tent on hands and knees, caught Jon’s face in his hands, and kissed him soundly.
The kiss was everything that he’d been dreaming of but hadn’t been able to have. The last time he’d kissed anyone, it had been Cece, and kissing Jon was nothing like kissing Cece. Those essential differences...
He broke the kiss and looked at Jon, suddenly nervous. Jon’s eyes had closed during the kiss, and now they fluttered open again, catching Darrell’s and not letting go.
“That...that was what you were thinking about?”
“Among other things,” Darrell admitted. “But you’re less than a year out from Edwin dying. I didn’t feel right about pushing. And I didn’t know if you still wanted me or not, after all this time.” He looked suddenly anxious, like Will had just before he proposed to Laurie. “You...you do want me, don’t you? Or have I been imagining things?”
Jon took a long moment to respond, giving Darrell’s mind plenty of time to gibber dammit you ruined the friendship and he’s the best friend you’ve ever—
“No.” It was a single word, but it could change everything. “No...what?” Darrell asked.
“You haven’t been imagining things,” Jon said. “But if I’m
less than a year out from Edwin’s death, you’re even closer to Cece’s. No way was I going to try to compete with her. I was thinking about asking you to go on a real date maybe when we got back home, but this? I never expected this.”
“Neither did I,” Darrell said. “I just hoped for it.”
They reached for each other as Jon clicked off the little lantern.
The third day started out like a celebration. Between Will and Laurie’s public commitment and Jon and Darrell’s private one, the entire trail seemed easier and the burdens lighter. Jon commented on it as the group began to spread out and find their own paces up the trail. “It’s like we’re all dancing up the trail this morning, isn’t it?”
Darrell couldn’t help but agree. Their night together had pushed aside the barriers for him—he still complained, of course, that was part of who he was; but now the complaints were fewer and farther between. Cece’s necklace was in his pocket and today he felt stronger and lighter than he had ever felt before.
Maybe because Jon’s with me now, he mused.
The two of them were trailing the rest of the group today. Even Charles and Trevor were ahead of them. It didn’t matter. The hike would be eight hours, but they were going to take their time. For some reason, it suddenly felt like there was nothing left to prove. They were here, and they were together; that proved everything.
They were in one of those thirty-yard gaps when Jon stopped them for a minute. “I have to confess something.”
Darrell stopped, concerned. “Confess? What’s going on?”
“I had an ulterior motive bringing you on this trip. I didn’t start out having one, but I didn’t want to go alone, and I’d promised Edwin that I’d find someone to go with me. And you were so broken up over Cece’s death—understandably! —and I just wanted
to get your head up into the clouds for a little while. I wanted to prove to both of us that we aren’t dead yet. I miss Edwin terribly, as much as you miss Cece, but I needed you to see that life is worth it—that you are worth it.”
Darrell looked at him, and then smiled wryly. “Well, you’ve done it. I believe you. Do you believe that I believe you?”
Jon looked at him carefully, and then nodded. “Yes. I do.”
Darrell leaned forward and kissed Jon. “I’m glad we did this. I can’t imagine doing it with anyone else.”
“Neither can I,” Jon said as they started moving again. “Come on, let’s tackle this.”
The path wasn’t as bad as the day before. They moved at a leisurely pace. No other hikers passed them, but they didn’t overtake their own group, either. They moved as though they were the only two men on the path.
“This reminds me of the Echo Park stairs,” Darrell mused a couple hours later. “All this overgrowth. And look at that— see those ruins? Probably not where we’re going to, but still! You should get some photos of that.”
Jon leaned out from the trail and saw terraced ruins stepping down the side of the mountain. Ant-like figures covered the bottom steps of the ruins, and Jon pointed. “More hikers. Probably a different tour group with a different route.”
“Yeah. Hey, do you want to just stop here for our rest break?” Darrell said.
“Sounds like a plan,” Jon said, already snapping photos of the ruins. They sat and drank from their canteens, but the sun grew warmer and they didn’t stay for long.
A few hours later, they found the camp, where lunch was already in progress. Charles met each of them with a hug and a grin, and they sat down to a quick meal before the porters shooed them out. “Laurie and Will already headed out. They say the next part is the worst. They call it the Gringo Killer. I think I’m...what did you call it, Trev?” Charles asked.
“You’re fucked,” Trevor responded, and the two men laughed.
“Royally fucked, more like,” Charles responded. “I’ll be lucky if I make it to camp by nightfall.”
“You’ll do fine,” Jon said. “You have until now, right?” Charles nodded.
“And you have Trevor with you, right?” Darrell pointed out.
Charles nodded again.
“So then you’re fine, right?” Jon said.
“Fine and fucked,” Charles said, and Trevor grinned at
him as they headed towards the trail.
“That’s the spirit,” Jon said as he and Darrell headed for
the exit of the lunch camp.
Ella and Miche were nowhere to be seen; the only people
left of their group were the porters. “We should get going— we are seriously lagging,” Jon said.
“Do you want your sweatshirt? Those clouds are coming in.”
“Nah, it’ll just end up tied around my waist. This is going to be a hell of a hike,” Jon said, looking at the clouds and the arduous path ahead.
“All right,” Darrell said doubtfully, “but I’m going to put on my jacket. I don’t trust those clouds.”
They set out.
The descent got more and more precipitous. The sky grew dark, and the rain came down—but Jon refused to put on a jacket or a sweatshirt. He turned his face up to the rain, tasting it, reveling in it. The steps got taller and narrower, and the wind blew fiercely through the greenery around them, lashing it with ripples of rain.
They stopped once for a quick rest, but the rain propelled them on, until finally they were at it. The Gringo Killer stood before them in all its deadly glory—stone steps descending a steep hillside, with a tilt that felt almost vertical. Their walking sticks were no longer optional; several people slipped and cursed, and as the rain fell harder, Darrell wondered out loud if it was even safe to be on this stairway.
Jon shrugged. “We still have to get to the other end of it, right? They aren’t going to shut off the rain just to make it easy for us.”
“True,” Darrell said. “Another thing we didn’t plan for.”
The rain pelted them, stinging, no longer refreshing. “It’s like an El Niño storm at home,” Jon shouted back, and Darrell nodded, wiping rain from his face.
Who ordered this shit anyway? I didn’t sign up for rain, or slippery steps, or this steep pitch that makes me feel like I’m going to fall forward on my—Jon? JON!
Jon had taken a bad step, and his pack overbalanced him off the stepped trail and down along the side of the stairway. He screamed as his right hand gripped the stair with all his might, while the momentum carried his pack right off his left arm and jerked his body against the hillside. “Darrell!!” Jon screamed, trying to manage pack and grip and mud, and slipping further, his boot toes pressing into the muddy hillside and not finding purchase.
“JON!” Darrell shouted. In one smooth move he was lying prone on the step that Jon was grabbing and gripping both his friend’s arms above the wrists. “I’ve got you! Hold on!”
The pack swung from Jon’s right arm, pulling his hand out of Darrell’s grip. His rain-slick arms were impossible to grab. “Stop twisting! Hold still!” he barked. “Otherwise I’ll drop you!”
Jon instantly stopped thrashing, and Darrell shouted again. “Grab my arm with your left hand! Do it now, Jon!”
Jon’s hand gripped around his lower arm, around his jacket, which was far less slick than Jon’s bare arm. “Can you brace your feet?”
Jon carefully put his foot forward and found a stone in the hillside. “Ye—yes.” His teeth chattered. “I’ve got my right foot braced on a rock.”
“Okay. Let’s get that pack off your arm so it doesn’t pull you down. I’m going to let go of your right hand and catch the pack. When I do, pull your arm out of the strap, and grab the step with your right hand.”
Darrell slid his arm up Jon’s to the pack strap and grabbed it as Jon pulled his arm out and gripped the step-side in a death grip. Darrell dragged the pack up and pushed it behind him, not caring if it rolled down the steps. “We’ll get that in a minute, okay?”
Jon nodded, one sharp jerk. His eyes were staring and terrified.
“And don’t panic,” Darrell said. “Climb with your feet. I’m going to pull you up but you have to help me. Ready?”
“Ye-heh-hes,” Jon panted. “Don’t drop me.”
“Never,” Darrell said, pushing his voice to sound much more confident than he felt. “And one, two...now!”
He pulled smoothly and Jon climbed up the side, getting a knee on the step below and rolling over on his back, not caring that the steps bit into his back and neck. His front was covered in mud, but he was alive and safe. Darrell turned to sit on the step with him. “Are you hurt? Anything broken?”
“Only my pride,” Jon said. His chest hitched with what might have been laughter or—possibly—tears. “God, Dare, if you hadn’t been there, I might have...” He closed his eyes against the words. “You saved my life.”
“You’d have done the same for me,” Darrell said. “I’m just glad you’re okay. Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I am, I am.” Jon sat up and brushed muddy dirt from his jacket and his knees. “Just shaken. I guess we get to follow my pack down the stairs. Did you see my walking sticks anywhere?”
One of them was lying on the steps a few yards away, just below where Jon’s pack had finally rolled to a stop. The other one was nowhere to be seen.
“You can use one of mine,” Darrell said. “Don’t argue with me. You will need it more than I will after that tumble.”
Jon didn’t argue.
“You sit here for a minute. I’ll go get your pack and that stick.” Darrell moved down the steps as Jon sat, getting his breath back. Something glittered in the splatter of mud on the step he was sitting on. Jon picked it up. It was Cece’s necklace, the one that Darrell had given her after one of her operatic triumphs. She had worn it several times at dinners he and Edwin had attended at Darrell and Cece’s house, and he knew the story of
it well enough that he could tell it by heart, because Cece told it at every single dinner.
He slipped the necklace into his pocket. I’ll give it to him when we get to camp. No point in worrying about it right now, he thought.
Darrell came back up the steps with his pack and the one stick he’d managed to save. “Here. Put this on, and then take this and one of mine. They’re up on the step above you.”
Jon got the pack on, and then stood with Darrell’s help. He was careful to stay far away from the edge of the steps as they made their way down the rest of the Gringo Killer. At the end of that long, treacherous stairway they found camp set up, and dinner being prepared.
He didn’t talk much that night. He was just glad to be alive.
On the final morning, the porters woke them up early. “Sun Gate, señores! Sun Gate, señoritas,” they called as they walked through the camp. “El desayuno después de la salida del sol!”
Darrell sat up and rubbed sleep from his eyes. The dome tent over their heads was still dark, as was the interior. “I forgot this was a three a.m. wake-up call. What did they say?”
“Breakfast will be after sunrise. Come on,” Jon said, sitting up stiffly. “We don’t want to miss this, do we?”
Darrell’s answer was a quick kiss before he got up and hurried into his hiking clothes for the last day. Jon was slower, but eventually both of them were following the group out of the tent and up the last hillside towards the Sun Gate.
“It’s been amazing,” Darrell said as he walked with Jon. “I found so much here I didn’t know I needed.”
“The exercise?” Jon teased. “The early mornings and the interesting food?”
“You,” Darrell said. “I just wish we hadn’t had to come so far to do it. The Palisades would have been more than enough.”
“I found something, too. Besides you, I mean. I figured you might want to have it back,” Jon said, and held out Cece’s necklace.
Darrell’s hand went involuntarily to his pocket. “Where did you—I didn’t even know I’d lost this!” He took it and looked at it. “It’s muddy. Did you see me drop it?”
In His Arms Page 19
