Patterns of Swallows by Connie Cook

summer.
    That summer they were obsessed
with treasure maps. They played pirate treasure endlessly, taking
turns depositing some little trinket (usually a cheap necklace of
painted, wooden beads belonging to Wynnie) in a metal box and hiding
the box in some out-of-the-way spot. Sometimes it involved digging
holes and burying the treasure; sometimes just finding the most
unlikely place one could find – which gave the seeker more of a
challenge with no freshly-turned earth as a clue. Then the hider
would draw a treasure map for the seeker and delight in making the
map as deceptive as possible while still accurate within reason. If
the treasure remained undiscovered by the seeker, the seeker always
laid blame on the map and sought recourse to the decision of a third
party as to the accuracy of the map.
    The third party was always
Joshua Bella. Wynnie never would let him play treasure maps with her
and Ruth. Ruth thought they should let him play with them (before
the confession, that is), but Wynnie was adamant. Still, Joshua was
always just ... there ... hanging around the two girls in spite of
everything Wynnie did to get rid of him. He had a sort of sixth
sense that allowed him to find them at any given moment of the day
(though, of course, the girls were predictable. After chores were
done for the day, they were almost always either at the Starke place
or the Chavinski farm.)
    Ruth
tolerated his constant presence reasonably well, but she had to admit
to herself that it annoyed her. The way he was always just there! Always just on the outskirts of their play, watching hopefully,
trying to include himself in it when they'd let him, taking the
proverbial mile if Wynnie gave him an inch. Always with the same
hopeful, sad, brown eyes and the same hopeful, goofy smile on his
hopeful, sad, goofy face! It was enough to drive a person to
distraction just to have an uninvited third party always there !
Especially one that always looked so sadly, goofily, hopeful!
    But he was useful when it came
to the matter of settling disputes though his impartiality was
questionable. Even Ruth had to admit that her case usually won. (It
didn't matter, of course. Whatever Joshua's decision, both sides
continued to argue their suits out of court until the matter was
eventually forgotten; a new hiding place found and a new map drawn.)
    The confession came about in
this way:
    "You always take her side,"
Wynnie accused after one particularly blatant instance of biased
judgment. "Is that because you love her?" she demanded in
a whiny sing-song.
    Joshua said nothing and looked
down but not quickly enough to hide the blush that reddened his
unprepossessing face, making it homelier than ever.
    "You do!" Wynnie said,
exulting in her discovery. "You love Ruth! You do, don't you?"
    Joshua said nothing. His
honesty was too much a part of his character to disown the truth
about anything, however painful.
    "You lo-ove Ruth, you
lo-ove Ruth," Wynnie chanted. "You do, don't you? Answer
me, or I'll keep asking you until you do."
    "Yes," Joshua said
with his head down and his face fiery.
    Ruth had been unable to help
witnessing the drama and unable to stop its outcome. There was
nothing she could have said or done that wouldn't have made it worse.
    It would have been all right if
it had ended there. She could have lived with knowing the truth if
the truth hadn't intruded itself upon her by requiring decision on
her part.
    But that day, when Wynnie was
called in for supper, Joshua asked to walk Ruth home. With the truth
already opened wide by Wynnie and nothing further to lose, Joshua
laid his heart at Ruth's feet and asked if she felt the same way.
    "We're too young to even
talk about such things," Ruth told him primly, hoping to escape
through evasion.
    "But when we're older, I'll
still love you. Will you love me back then?"
    "You can't possibly know
what you'll do when you're grown up."
    "Yes, I do. I do know
that. I'll love you till I die."
    It
was just like