He held up my hand so they could see the engagement ring.
Neither woman looked as if she could find the words. They both looked from the ring to Liam and then to me. Finally, Mrs. Winston stepped forward to hug me.
“Welcome to the family,” she said, and kissed my cheek.
“Congratulations, Liam,” Mrs. McGruder said, hugging him. “Finally, you made a wise decision.”
Everyone laughed.
“When’s the wedding going to be?” Mrs. Winston asked. She wasn’t one to beat around any bush and never one to fear telling you what she really thought.
“The wedding?” Liam said as if the concept had just occurred to him. “Yes, the wedding. Well . . .” He looked at me. “Sooner rather than later, I’d say.”
“That’s no date. You can’t leave something like that hanging in the air, Liam, and don’t think you two can just elope. This is a historic family. We have roots. Your father has important friends,” she lectured. I could see she would go on and on.
“We haven’t quite gotten to that yet, but we will immediately,” I said.
That seemed to relieve and calm her. She nodded and then smiled again. “I guess we are the first to know,” Mrs. Winston said. “I’m glad it’s not going to be one of those disturbingly long engagements. Summers are wonderful for weddings in Quincy,” she added pointedly. “John Hancock was married in August.”
“Well, we’ll check with you once we find a date,” Liam said. “And make sure we’re not stepping on some important holiday. Right now, I think we’d better inform my father and my sister.”
“Of course you should.”
I nodded, and we started out. Mrs. Winston followed us to the door. She hugged me again. I saw the question in her face, but I didn’t want to answer it. Was I going to tell my father? Even if I didn’t, I thought, he was bound to know. I looked out at the street and the now-familiar shadows. If he doesn’t know already, I thought.
We hurried off. Keep your eyes on the road, I thought. If ever there was a moment when they would want to interfere, it was now. Liam was talking almost as fast as he was driving, describing what were obviously well-thought-out plans for us. He thought we’d live in his father’s mansion to start while he built us our own home, probably on the family land.
“Dad will put up an argument, trying to persuade us just to live in the mansion, but I think you’ll want your own home, don’t you?”
Before I could answer, he continued.
“I have all sorts of suggestions for our honeymoon. Have you ever been to Europe? I don’t know if you mentioned it or if I asked. Anyway, depending on when we do actually get married, I think you’d absolutely fall in love with the island of Capri. I was there as a teenager and didn’t appreciate any of it, but for some reason, it has never gone out of my mind. I mean, I’m sure it’s one of the most romantic places to honeymoon.”
“It sounds wonderful, Liam, but your great-aunt Amelia is right. We should talk about a wedding date.”
“Oh, absolutely. Does sooner rather than later suit you?”
I paused before answering. I was thinking of Naomi Addison, who would be the cheerleader calling me a gold digger for sure. Takes one to know one.
“After we take a breath, we’ll talk about it, okay?”
He looked at me askance.
“What?” I asked.
“Why are you hesitating? You think people will accuse you of something?”
“Has that happened with other girls you’ve known?”
He shrugged. “If it did, they deserved it,” he said. “The only thing authentic about them was how in-authentic they were.”
“How come you never fell for it?”
“I’ve never been in love before,” he said. “Honest,” he added, holding up his hand. “And I have a built-in sincerity scanner.”
“Right.”
“Not me,” he said, smiling.