Chapter 5: The Ring at the Table

The doctor never got past the porch.

My father told him his daughter was fine and shut the door in his face.

"I don't care who's worried," Dad said to me afterward. "You were never confused a day in your life."

I kissed his cheek and went to put on the blue dress.

I put it on because Bryson expected it.

I wanted him to look at it tonight and know I had chosen it.

By seven the dining room was lit with candles.

Bryson's father sat at one end, and Bryson's mother sat beside him in pearls.

Marcy had the seat next to mine, in a soft cream dress, smiling at everyone.

Bryson had the chair across from me, and he kept touching the small box in his jacket.

The doorbell rang at seven exactly.

My father went to answer it himself.

I heard him say, "Well, I'll be damned."

Then Elias Rooke walked into the dining room in the black suit, and Bryson's mother put her fork down.

"Diana, you didn't mention a guest," Bryson said.

"I'm mentioning him now." I stood. "This is Elias Rooke. He's my date."

Nobody said a word.

Bryson's father stared at his plate.

"Mr. Pellam," Elias said. "Thank you for having me."

"Your father fixed my boat the summer Diana was nine," Dad said, holding out his hand.

"Your father wouldn't take a dime," he said. "I never forgot it."

"He told me," Elias said.

Something in my father's face softened, and he pulled out the chair on my left.

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