“I will,” Cassie reminded me.
“Aren’t you the least bit happy for me, Semantha? For us?”
“Us?”
“I hope you think of it all that way,” he said, holding my hand and looking deeply into my eyes.
“Yes, I think of it that way. I’m also thinking how busy and involved you’ll be with Lucille.”
“Not so busy that I won’t be thinking of you,” he said.
“Right,” I said dryly.
“It is right. After they promoted me today, my thoughts went immediately to you, to us.”
I didn’t look back at him. I was sliding into my own dark places. He felt it and shook my hand to get my attention. When I turned back, he got it, fully.
He had begun to slip a ring on my finger.
An engagement ring!
Engaged
“I HOPE YOU don’t mind,” Ethan said. “I went to the Heaven-stone jewelry department. I got something of a discount. Ordinarily, I could not afford a diamond this big with this clarity, but I wanted you to have a ring worthy of your finger, a ring worthy of you.
“And don’t say it’s not the size of it that matters,” he added quickly. “I didn’t want to be embarrassed, and I certainly don’t want you to be embarrassed. I have my pride, too, you know.”
I looked at it and then at him. The joy and excitement in his face were instantly replaced with worry and concern because of my controlled reaction. Some might say it was more like no reaction.
“I’m asking you to marry me,” he said, as if there were some doubt about what it meant.
When I replied, the words I spoke felt as if they had originated with Cassie. From the day I had returned, I had often heard t
hem echoing throughout Heaven-stone. It was as if all of our ancestors captured on that wall of portraits had become a Greek chorus chanting.
“Everything’s happening so fast.”
He laughed. “Tell me about it. A few weeks ago, I was applying for an assistant floor manager’s position at a small department store in my hometown and worrying that I wouldn’t even be granted an interview.”
“I don’t mean just about your career, Ethan. Everything at Heaven-stone, my family, my life, too. Before I can catch my breath after one change, there’s another and another.”
“All for the better, I hope,” he said. “But you’re right about one thing. I never gave myself to one girl as quickly as I’ve given myself to you. From the first moment I saw you in that dorm lobby, I knew you were someone special, and I knew I wanted you to be in my life. I thought I saw the same feeling in you, too. I hope that wasn’t a mistake.”
“No, it wasn’t,” I said.
“Then this,” he said, running his finger over the diamond, “isn’t coming too fast. As Lucille says, if it’s right, it’s never too fast.”
“Now you’re going to start quoting her?”
He laughed. “You’re always quoting your father.”
“That’s different,” I said. “He’s a part of Kentucky history. I’m not the only one who quotes him.”
“Of course. I was just teasing. I would never put Lucille on the same level as your father.”
I thought for a moment, looked at the ring, and then asked, “Does she know about this?”
“The ring? No. I haven’t even told your father yet. I was hoping you’d be happy and the two of us would have some fun at dinner tonight. We won’t say anything when we first enter the dining room. We’ll wait to see how long it takes for one or both of them to notice. How’s that sound?”