Page 22 of Christmas Rings

“What brought you to Seattle?” Mr. Marsh asked.

“College. Then, I was offered a teaching position. It all worked out for me to stay.”

For the next fifteen minutes, Jed’s parents continued to ask questions. From what she could tell, they wanted to know every detail of her life before now. She felt like she was at a job interview, doing the best to answer, but certain she was failing this test miserably.

After dinner, Alissa grabbed her handbag from where she’d left it on the foyer table and used the bathroom before she and Jed left for home. She looked at herself in the mirror, appalled to see that her makeup had smeared during her coughing fit. Oh well. The night couldn’t have gone any worse. Could it be up from here? Usually people liked her. However, she was pretty sure Mr. and Mrs. Marsh were not on Team Alissa.

She wiped her hands and cleaned her face, then applied lip gloss. It was only eight but felt like midnight. Earlier in the day, Jed had asked if he could stay with her at her apartment. He’d even brought a change of clothes and some toiletries, so he could go to work in the morning. The thought of him there all night cheered her as she moved down the hallway toward the kitchen to say good night to the Marshes.

Voices stopped her just outside the kitchen door.

“Not a kindergarten teacher from the foster care system. A little mouse,” Mrs. Marsh said. “Scared of her own shadow.”

Alissa clutched her purse to her chest as the contents ofher stomach lurched. A mouse? She wasn’t a mouse. Simply polite and quiet. Like Jed.

“Not her, Jed. She’s not the woman for my son.”

“I love her and she’s going to be my wife.”

“Your father and I can cut you off. You know that, don’t you? Is she really worth it?”

“I don’t care. I’m done with you controlling my life. She’s my life now.” His footsteps were loud as he headed her direction. When he appeared in the hallway, his face had drained of color and his eyes glittered with rage. He froze when he saw her standing there. “You heard?”

“I heard.”

“Listen to me.” He cupped her face with his hands. “Nothing matters but you.”

“Can we go?” More than anything, she just wanted out of this awful house. How could anything so large be so stifling?

“Yes, let’s go.”

He took her by the hand and led her out of the house and into the car. “Let’s go somewhere to talk,” he said, as he backed out of the driveway. “I’m not ready to go home yet.”

Sensing that he needed a moment to gather his thoughts, she didn’t press him to talk and, instead, looked out the window at the mansions. Were the families that lived in them as dysfunctional as the one she’d just witnessed?

They drove north on 405 and took the exit for downtown Kirkland. The sun had set, leaving behind a pink sky over Lake Washington. He parked on the street in front of a waterfront park. “Take a walk with me?”

“Sure.”

They crossed a patch of grass to a long pier built over the water. In the summer months, children jumped into the lake from here, but tonight it was empty. She shivered in her dress and light sweater, and Jed shrugged out of his sports jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders. They reached the endof the pier and sat side by side with their legs dangling over the water. The last of the light faded from the sky.

“I need you to know something,” he said. “I love you.”

“You do?”

“Yes. These weeks with you have been the happiest of my life.”

“I love you too.” She’d had to hold her tongue so many times over the last few weeks to keep the words from slipping out of her mouth.

He kissed her softly before withdrawing to gaze into her eyes. “I need you to understand that you’re first in my life. My mother’s trying to control me, but it’s not going to work. She can threaten to cut me off all she wants. I’m not giving you up.”

“Are you sure? They’re your family.”

“Nothing matters except that I love you.”

“What if they kick you out of the company?” she asked.

“They won’t. My mother’s bluffing. Dad won’t let her do it anyway.”

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