Ace arrived to Laura's house early Monday morning to begin construction on the fence. He had already laid out the line after carefully checking the exact locations of the property lines. Caroline had already spoken to her neighbours either side and both had no problems with her building a fence but he didn't want to risk an argument later.
He had measured his end posts at six feet high and was in the process of putting them in at each corner when Laura came out of her house to go to school.
"What are you doing?" she asked him curiously.
"I'm building you a fence," he replied, kicking the post to straighten it up a bit.
"Okay," she said unquestioningly.
That was one of the main things he loved about her. She was so trusting. "You want a ride to school?" he asked, wiping his hands.
"Yes," she said happily, taking his hand.
"You're wearing your ring," he said, noticing it when his fingers clasped hers.
"I want to show Connie," she said excitedly.
He smirked, he doubted very much she would be thrilled with the idea, he was pretty sure she hated him. He opened the door for her and drove the short distance to the high school.
"Have a good day doll," he said kissing her before she ran off to find Connie.
"Ace!" someone called out behind him. It was Fuzzy.
"What are you up to today?" Ace asked him after they had exchanged some small talk.
"Nothing," Fuzzy replied, sucking on his cigarette.
"Wanna build a fence?"
Fuzzy shrugged, "sure, why the fuck not? You got anyone else helping you?"
"I just started," he explained, "Why you know where anyone is?"
"Yeah I just came from the pool hall Charlie and Billy were just going for breakfast."
So Ace rounded up his friends, including Vince who was at the diner as well and they got to work on the fence. By the afternoon they had gotten pretty far along and Ace was glad for it. He wasn't looking forward to having build a fence by himself.
The next day Eyeball and Jack came along. Vince and Charlie couldn't come because they had gotten themselves jobs and had to go to work but it didn't seem to matter. At the pace they were going they were going to finish in record time. When Caroline came home in the afternoon she made them a jug of lemonade and they had a break.
Billy fidgeted with his glass, trying to figure out a way to bring something up he had heard yesterday afternoon.
"What's up with you?" Ace said, noticing his restlessness, "you been acting psycho all day."
"Are you getting married?" Billy blurted out.
Ace cocked his eyebrow, "yeah I am," he said, finding his reaction amusing. "Still hanging out with Palermo?" he said scoffed, Connie must have told him about Laura's ring.
"Shit," Eyeball said, "Congratulations man, your girl is a stone fox." He grinned as Ace glared at him. "and she's gonna stay that way if her Ma's anything to go by, she must be in her forties and she's still a total babe."
"Will you shut the fuck up?" Ace said, the last thing he needed was for Eyeball to start making comments about Caroline.
The other Cobras gave their congratulations and started heading home. If any of them were surprised by the news they were keeping it to themselves. Eyeball however lingered behind. "So when are you gonna get hitched?" he asked.
"Not until she graduates," he replied.
"Ain't she got a whole other year of school after this?"
"Yeah," he said nonchalantly, lighting up a cigarette.
"That's ages away man. How did your folks react?"
"I haven't told them yet," he said a little taken aback, it hadn't even crossed his mind.
"Seriously though man, no disrespect, she's a real sweetheart. I get why you asked her," Eyeball continued, "well I'm gonna get out of here, I'll see you tomorrow."
As he was starting to leave Laura arrived home from school. She waved at them and walked over.
"Hey doll, I didn't realise the time I was gonna come pick you up."
"It's okay," she said kissing him briefly, "your fence is looking really good."
"Don't give him all the credit," Eyeball said, still hanging around. He pinched her cheek affectionately, "Congratulations hon, I heard the news."
She smiled warmly, "thank you," she said, reattaching herself to Ace.
"Come on babe we gotta go," he said pulling her away.
"Where are we going?" she asked as they started driving.
"To go tell my Ma our good news."
Grace was wiping down the kitchen when the two walked in through the door. It took her about two seconds to realise Laura was wearing an engagement ring.
"When did this happen?" she cried out excitedly, squeezing her son.
"On Sunday," he said pushing her away. She soon turned her attention to Laura.
"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" she said, still squeezing Laura.
"I didn't know you didn't know," Laura said, struggling to talk as her ribcage was being crushed.
"Jesus Christ Ma, you wonder why I didn't tell you," Ace said pulling Laura away from her death grip. "Can I at least marry her before you kill her."
"Oh this is so exciting," she said, before something occurred to her, "Why didn't you wait another week John, proposing on Valentine's Day would have been awfully romantic."
"That's her birthday," he said. "She has enough going on that day."
"Oh of course you said her birthday was soon. What are you doing to celebrate dear?"
"Nothing much," she said casually. She never paid very much attention to her birthday.
"Nonsense," Grace said waving her hand, "you have to celebrate dear, and you have so much to celebrate now."