Chapter 17: Congratulations

Tony's POV

Lila laid out my gray suit on the bed on Sunday afternoon, and I knew something was coming.

She only did that for her parents.

"Mom and Dad are coming at six," she said. "Wear the blue tie. The one I like."

She stood in the bathroom door in her slip, brushing her hair.

She was smiling at herself in the mirror.

I had spent four years learning that smile, and I knew every kind she had.

This was the kind she wore when she had a secret she was proud of.

"You're in a good mood," I said.

"I'm happy. Is that a crime?"

"No."

She came and sat on the bed beside me, and took my hand, and pressed it flat against her stomach.

Her skin was warm through the silk.

"Doesn't it feel different?" she said, watching my face.

I kept my hand where it was.

It was the hardest thing I had ever done, and it took everything I had.

"I don't feel anything," I said.

"It's too early." She laughed, her cracked, pretty laugh. "Never mind. Tonight."

I took my hand back, and she let me.

Her parents arrived on time, with a bottle of champagne and a cake.

The cake came from the bakery where Lila's mother had ordered cakes for thirty years.

We ate in the dining room, at the long table my grandfather built.