Chapter 24: Open Door

I ducked under the green curtain after the ring box, and Justin ducked in after me.

It was dim behind there, and it smelled of dill and party lights.

The little velvet box lay on its side by my shoe.

I picked it up and held it out.

"You dropped something," I said.

"I'm aware."

He took it from my hand, and then he took the hand too.

On the dance floor, the music went on.

Through the gap in the curtain I could see forty pairs of shoes, and every one of them was pointed our way.

Justin knelt on the boards in his rented tux.

"This was a draft," he said. "You were right. I'll write the final version, and it will have more words in it."

"Justin."

"I have exactly one thing to say, and then I'll stop."

I put my free hand over my own mouth.

"I'd like a long, loud life," he said, "in which you never have to hide from anyone, including me. Marry me, Susanna."

I took my hand away.

"Yes," I said. "Yes, I'll marry you, yes."

He slid the ring on my finger, and it fit, and I knew he had measured it off the ring I wore on my thumb.

Then I kissed him, and the whole curtain shook.

Outside, somebody whooped.

A second later, the entire yard erupted.

I pushed my face into his shoulder, laughing, and he held me up.

Under the hem of the curtain, my mother's good shoes stopped in front of ours.

"I'm not opening it," Mom said, from the other side. "I'm only saying, congratulations. Stanley's crying again."

"Thank you, Mom," I called.

"I counted. That's thirty-two cucumbers and one yes."

That spring, the new Hostetler Women's Clinic opened in a converted dentist's office two streets from the hardware store.

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