AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“If Barney will sell it, I could always put a pool in. It would be difficult to go without after having yours all summer.”
They heard a car motor straining to get up the driveway.
“Here comes the colonel,” Emily said, her poker face in place.
“Aw, I think he’ll be happy for us,” Paul said. “Don’t be worried.”
“I keep thinking how much easier this would be if we didn’t have to deal with people. We’d just go off on our own and get married.”
“We can still do that, Em. We’ll do whatever you want to do.”
“Wait. Tomorrow at Big Mike and Roberta’s, they’ll have the whole thing planned out before we even leave.”
Laughing, he quickly hugged her before her father reached the door. “They don’t mean any harm. We don’t have to do anything we don’t want to do.”
“If you say so,” she replied dubiously.
Roberta Saint had an iron will, and Emily wondered if she wasn’t apt to try a little gaslighting to get her way. A tap on the door ended that conversation, for now.
“Colonel, come right in,” Emily said, giving him a kiss on the cheek as Rex leapt up into her arms.
“How’s my favorite daughter?”
“I’ll get right to the point,” she said, smiling, kissing the dog’s head.
Holding out her hand under his nose, he reared back and took her hand, eyeing the ring right away.
“Congratulations! My goodness, this is such wonderful news.”
He embraced his daughter lovingly and reached out a welcoming hand to Paul.
“It happened fast,” Paul explained, a little worried that Rob might not appreciate it. But he was fine.
“Yes, but I understand why. In this day and age, why wait if you’re in love? And I can see you are in love.”
“I wanted to ask your permission, sir.”
“You have it, you have it. You know how I feel about you, young man. Well done, well done. That’s quite a ring.”
“You’ll tell Mom,” Emily said, her hand in Rob’s while he examined the ring.
“I will? You should tell her, Emily.”
“Colonel, with all due respect, I really don’t want her to blow my high. She has a way of turning the good things that happen to me around.”
“She won’t do that for your engagement. She’ll be so happy for you. The other stuff she says, it’s just a mother’s way. She’s concerned for you. Alice wants you to be happy.”
“Well, she has an odd way of showing it. It hurts my feelings. She doesn’t have the right to comment on my body anymore. It’s perverse. And it’s embarrassing.”
“I’ll remind her, but this is lifelong, you know that. I pointed out to her that you’re built just like my sister Grace, and she was Miss Atlantic City in nineteen seventy-two.”
“And what was her response? ‘Grace was a cow.’ I’ve heard her say that before. Not everyone can be diminutive like Alice Porter.”
“Honey, I’m so sorry. I wish I could control what she says to you. Just know that I think you’re lovely in every way.”
“Thank you, sir,” Emily said, saluting him. He grabbed her to hug.
“I guess I had that coming,” he said apologetically. “I raised her like she was in my Marine platoon.”
