“If you don’t want to,” she continued quickly, “we’ll speak to the other family. We’ll cancel the engagement if that’s what you want, my dear.”
Still silence.
She sighed on the other end, clearly thinking I was about to refuse again — like I always did before.
But this time, something inside me shifted. The quiet realization that there was nothing left here worth fighting for.
I adjusted the phone in my hand and said, calm and even, “I’ll come back and marry him.”
There was a sharp inhale on the other end.
“You… agree?”
“I agree,” I repeated, my tone detached. “But I need a little more time here. A week, at most. I need to finish a few things in Hawthorn before I leave.”
“Allison…” my mother’s voice wavered, full of surprise and relief.
“Go ahead and start the wedding preparations,” I added. “I’ll be home in time.”
We exchanged a few more words — she fussed over details as mothers do — before I hung up.
The music downstairs drifted back into my awareness. Louder now, the crowd singing Happy Birthday.
I didn’t have to wonder for whom. Of course it was for Trisha.
A knock at my door broke me out of my thoughts. I already knew who it would be before I opened it.