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“Or they’ll use being tired as an excuse to let all hell break loose.”
They’d wait until everyone was together around the table to share their news. The food was served and eating had begun when there was a lull in the conversation that Paul took advantage of.
“Everyone, Emily and I have an announcement.”
Paul’s eyes went right to his mother’s face as he helped Emily stand next to him. Clare’s look was undecipherable.
“I asked her to marry me and she said yes!”
Holding out her left hand to show off the ring, Emily threaded her free hand around Paul’s waist, and he hugged her as congratulations rang out from around the table.
“Congratulations!” Big Mike and Roberta cried.
“Let me see the ring,” Candy said, leaning over the table.
Charlie clapped, yelling, “Attaboy, Paul!”
The cousins’ and their wives’ incriminating comments that they’d kept the secret during the hike lightened the mood up, but Clare’s silence seemed to overtake all the joyful comments.
Paul couldn’t help it. He didn’t want her to get away with it. “So, Mom, why aren’t you saying anything?” he asked, chiding her. “Everyone else is happy for us, and you look like you’re pissed off.”
Gasps went around the room as the felicitations stopped, all eyes on Paul and Clare.
“I’m not pissed,” she snapped. “I was just waiting to see how long it was going to take before you said anything. My feelings are hurt. I know your father already knew about it. Emily’s friend Kathy told me this morning. I ran into her at Gelson’s. I asked Charlie, but he claimed not to know; plus he’s a terrible liar. So I was the last to know, it would seem, and I had to find out about it from a relative stranger.”
“My mother doesn’t know either,” Emily said. “For this same reason. No matter when we tell her, she’s going to find something to take exception to.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Clare cried, ignoring Emily.
Paul pulled out Emily’s chair and they sat down again.
“This isn’t the place to go into it,” Paul said, his eyes narrowing.
“Go ahead, Paul,” Candy said. “We should have it out in the open, so we won’t gossip about it.”
A murmur of laughter went around the table.
“Paul’s trying to protect me,” Emily said. “Clare doesn’t like it that I’m a fat girl.”
Clare gasped, denying it, but Emily interrupted her. “You say something about my weight every single time we see each other. It never fails. ‘Am I worried about my health. Have I heard it’s harder to conceive when you’re fat. My knees must take a beating when we hike.’ It’s the comparison to Bethany that makes it so difficult to accept.”
Moans of disbelief went around the table, with Paul seething.
“You don’t really say those things, do you, Clare?” Big Mike asked. “Because you must think I’m a swine if that’s the case.”
Clare pushed away from the table. “Come on, Harry, let’s go.”
“Sit down, Clare. I’ve looked forward to this meal all week.” Laughter rang out, defusing the tension. “Emily, I apologize for Clare. I don’t know why she’s decided to pick on you. But it’s not about you, okay? It’s about her.”
“Harry, you have a lot of nerve,” Clare wailed, but she sat down with a plunk.
“I’m sorry about dinner, everyone,” Harry said. “Let’s not let this delicious meal go to waste. And, Paul and Emily, congratulations. You make a gorgeous couple. Now let’s eat.”
The family listened to Harry, and in a few seconds the conversation started up again, everyone asking about the wedding plans, people getting up to look at the ring, the normal stuff a family would do after good news. The only person who wasn’t happy was Clare Saint.
After dinner when the exodus began, Paul took Emily aside. “Can we stay? I’d like to be here after my mother leaves, just to hear what everyone has to say.”
“Sure. We still have to swing by my parents’ house though.”
