Silence Says So Much

A story written for ACE. Prompts: proposal, answer is no, mother-in-law to be mentioned.

Word count under 1000. Both prompts used. Proposal-answer no. Mother-in-law to be mentioned.



He stared at her, his mouth agape. He did not know what to say to the woman -this wonderful woman- whom he had loved for years. She stood there, a grimace on her face, waiting for a reply. Impatient, she spoke again.

“I asked you to marry me!”

David and Carrie had been going steady since ninth grade. They had just graduated high school, and even though David always thought they would eventually marry, he wanted to wait. He wanted to graduate college and experience life outside the small town they both grew up in. He also wanted to be the one who asked.

“Are you going to answer me?”

David cleared his throat and shifted his weight from one foot to the other. His nervousness showed and Carrie glared at him as he fidgeted. He was not ready for this! How was he going to explain himself after she had just opened herself up to him and put her heart on the line. He cleared his throat again and attempted to speak.

“Carrie, I-I-I …”

Carrie cut him off, "What David? You do not want to marry me? I can't believe this! Your silence says so much!"

She started to wail, her pain and humiliation bringing her to her knees. Wait! David thought. She was jumping to conclusions! David reached for her, wanting to explain. He did want to marry her, he was just stunned. He wanted to explain that he thought they should be engaged first. He wanted to ask her to marry him, properly, with a ring and on bended knee. He did not stand a chance at making her understand, for when he had reached for her, she pulled back as if his touch burned her flesh. She jumped up and ran out the front door of his house, slamming the door behind her.

The next day he made numerous calls to her cell phone. If she answered, the line was suddenly disconnected as soon as he said her name. He eventually gave up. He was moving to the university's dorms tomorrow. He still had to pack and get everything ready for his new start in a different state. His excitement at starting school in California was dulled by the pain he felt at the loss of his girlfriend. I will give her some time alone to think and will ask her to marry me as soon as I get home for the holidays. His excitement started to build again. He was sure it would turn out all right, and by Christmas. he and Carrie would be engaged. Despite his optimism, he was saddened when Carrie did not come to say good-bye when he left home for the college the next day.

Time flew as David busied himself with schoolwork, new friends, and occasional trips to the sunny beaches of the California coast.  He wrote Carrie a few letters, never getting any response. He had purchased a ring with a delicate, tiny diamond set in white gold. Lying on his bed, he would grip the ring tight in his fist and pray that she was okay, that she had come to her senses and would be waiting for him when he got home. She would smile that beautiful smile of hers, say "yes, oh yes ..."

David startled when the phone in the room rang. He had been lost in his daydreams of Carrie when the shrill noise jolted him from his pleasant thoughts of the love of his life- his soon to be wife. He picked up the receiver and heard his mom’s voice, loud and frantic.

“Carrie has been in an automobile accident. They do not think she will make it! There is a ticket at the airport waiting for you. Come home now!”

David stood by the bed, his tears falling freely as he looked at his love covered with bruises and hooked to pulsing, beeping machines. Her mother had said that Carrie had been driving home from a night class and had lost control of the car. She had hit a tree head-on. She was in a coma and the doctors held little hope that she would ever awaken from her deep sleep. In fact, she was brain-dead. He had listened as Carrie’s mother, sobbing, told him how depressed Carrie had been lately, how she seemingly had lost her zest for living. Didn't she know I was always planning on coming back to her?  Didn’t Carrie read my letters stating my undying love for her? Did she not know in her heart I wanted her as my wife?   David slowly walked away and back into Carrie’s hospital room. He took a small box out of his pocket and knelt on one knee beside the bed. Tears in his eyes, he tried to propose the way he had practiced it in his head, many times- in those many cheerful, happy daydreams of her. He tried to compose himself enough to speak the words, words of love- telling her how much she meant to him, how he had wanted to spend the rest of their lives together…forever…

"Carrie, my love, will you marry me?"

He slid the ring on her finger. She would be the one who did not speak this time. Holding her hand, saying his goodbyes to the love of his life, he kissed Carrie one last time. David walked out of the room knowing, without a doubt, the answer to his question. Silence says so much.