A Wonderful Pearing

A soft spring breeze blew through the trees, lifting a few leaves off of their branches as it did. The leaves slowly drifted down to the newly grown lawn as the sun kissed the tiny dew drops that lined the the blades of grass. The air was fresh and it warmed up the coolness in the atmosphere after a long stretch of cold days. Everyone was looking forward to warmer weather. Being stuck in the house for ANY reason is no fun.

Darla walked out onto her back porch, cup of freshly brewed coffee in hand and took a sip. She closed her eyes for a moment, enjoying the spring breeze before taking another sip. As she looked over the pear grove, she sighed,

"Finally the barlett trees will start growing. And I can't wait to see if Ol' Bare will produce something this year."

Ol' Bare was the biggest pear tree on her farm and it had been ages since she's seen any pears growing from it. This was the last year she would let the tree stand. Without any fruit coming from it, Ol' Bare was just in the way and it could be chopped down to make room for some new trees to be planted. Ol' Bare was so big, in fact, that 10 new trees could be easily planted where it stood with room to spare. People even say that is how many trees actually make up Ol' Bare, all intertwined into one big tree.

Darla didn't notice her husband, Mitchell, had joined her on the porch and made her jump when he spoke,

"I think this will be the year that Ol' Bare isn't so bare anymore."

He couldn't help but chuckle a little at the sight of his wife being startled. She gave him a playful slap on his shoulder, scrunched her face at him while rubbing the slight embarrassment from her reddened cheeks, and said,

" You can't do things like that, Mitch! You're like a ninja. Almost gave me a heart attack!"

"Sneeky, sneeky!" Mitchell replied, tip toeing up to her wit his hands out to grab her.

"Oh, you..." Darla said with a smile and slight glare, then turned away from him after waving him off.

Mitchell wrapped his long arms around her waist and rested his chin on her shoulder as they watched the sunrise over their massive grove.

After a few moments of silent enjoyment, they heard their doorbell ring, followed by excited knocking on the door. Only the screen doors were closed on the front and back porch, so they both heard it clearly. Mitchel and Darla both shook their heads and chuckled.

"You go up and get Brayden and I'll let our guests in and get breakfast set up." Mitchell said as he gave Darla a peck on the cheek and headed inside.

Darla nodded and they both went inside, going their separate ways at the staircase. As she got to the top of the steps, She softly knocked on the door to Brayden's room and said,

"Time to come down, honey. Everyone just got here. Let's have breakfast before we get started."

"OK, mom. I'll be right there." Braden said with excitement in his voice.

Darla smiled and headed back downstairs to join everyone at the table. Before she greeted everyone, Brayden quickly ran downstairs like he was going to miss something, startling everyone and making his parents look at him like a madman while the neighbors, Marianne, Douglas and their daughter Isabell laughed a little.

"Where's the fire, son?" asked Douglas.

"With all that energy, the work on the farm is gonna be a breeze!" said Mitchell with a laugh.

"Let's al go eat so we can get started. I'll sit next to Brayden while we eat." Isabell said smiling shyly. When she looked up at Brayden, the tips of her ears turned red.

"O-ok. A-after you, Isabell." Brayden said stumbling over his words and then tripping on a table leg. Both Darla and Marianne were cheesing from ear to ear the entire time.

After everyone finished eating and the ladies were clearing the table and washing the dishes, Brayden asked to speak to the men out back. Working on the farm that day was just a coverup for the sweetest surprise for Isabell.

"I'm gonna ask her under Ol' Bare." Brayden said.

With that, he took out a small box covered in blue velvet with a pearl trim and clasp. He opened it to reveal a gorgeous rose gold engagement ring. It was in the shape of a pear blossom with an oval shaped pink diamond in the middle and a small round white diamond on each of the petals. Douglas and Mitchell were almost speechless from the beauty the ring exuded.

"Are you sure it'll fit?" Mitchell asked.

"Marianne and I gave him one of Isabell's other rings to make sure he got the right size at the jeweler's." Douglas replied.

Suddenly, Mitchell's gaze went from the ring box to over Brayden's shoulder. He quickly straightened his back, cleared his throat and said,

"Ladies! Done already?"

Brayden's eyes widened as he speedily put the box back in his pocket. Fortunately, his back was to the door so Isabell didn't see it.

"Yes we are!" Marianne said cheerily. "Let's get started!"

Everyone started to get the needed equipment to get to work. after a few minutes, Douglas seemed to be a bit frustrated. He turned to Darla and asked, "Darla, I can't find the pruning shears. Where are they? Or do you not have any?"

Darla knitted her brows into a frown and said, "That doesn't make any sense. They should be in the shed."

Mitchell called from a little ways into the field, "Sorry I forgot to put them back after pruning some branches off of Ol' Bare the other day. They must be over there." Then he winked at his son. Brayden noticed and said, "I'll go get them."

He was about to ask Isabell to walk with him, but she beat him to it and said, "I'll go with you to look." Brayden smiled as they walked over to the big tree together.

Brayden lagged slightly behind, admiring the beautiful woman that he hoped would be his wife very soon. Isabell walked to Ol' Bare and ran her fingers across the trunk, caressed the leaves and stared at it in awe.

"Such a beautifully majestic tree." she said softly. "I wonder why it's not making fruit."

"Maybe it's not happy." Brayden said. "But I know what would make me happy."

Isabell froze for a second before she turned around. Tears instantly filled her eyes at the sight of Brayden on one knee holding a small blue box. She gasped as he opened it revealing the ring and asked her,

"Isabell, will you make me the happiest man on earth and be my wife?"

She nodded frantically and squealed with delight as Brayden took the ring from the box. She was so happy that she jumped and raised her arms to hug Brayden but didn't realized she knocked the ring out of his hand in her excitement. Brayden panicked and said,

"Isabell, wait? Where'd the ring go?!"

"Brayden, what do you mean?!" Isabell stopped immediately and began to go pale.

"Babe, in your happiness, you hit the ring out of my hand and now I don't know where it is." Brayden said as he crawled on the ground searching.

"Oh no!" Isabell said. "I'm so, so sorry!" her face white as a sheet.

Brayden noticed and immediately stood up and comforted her with a hug. "Don't worry, we'll find it."

The next day, both families decided to go out and search for the ring again. To their surprise, they not only found the ring, but Ol' Bare had started to grow beautiful red barlett pears and stood out from the rest of the trees that grew green.

After the pears had fully grown, Brayden and Isabell got married under that tree and surrounded by family and friends and lived a happy life for many years.