Page 60 of Trophy
“You’ll see.” He and his father followed his mother into their bedroom, where she went to a box on her dresser. “Now, son, we want you to know that we really like your Allison.”
His shoulders stiffened, and he couldn’t keep the surprised pleasure out of his voice. “You do?” The knowledge gave him a silly flare of hope that he might not be making another huge mistake, that he might not have picked another woman who would never stay. “You barely even know her.”
“We know her well enough to know she’s a good choice for you, and we’ve seen how you’ve been this last month, so we know she can make you happy if you let her.”
“Mom, I appreciate it, but I already told you that we’re just starting to?—”
“Yes, yes, I know what you said. I think it’s silly not to court a girl if you have feelings for her, but young people today have their own ways. I just wanted to give you this.”
She reached into the box and pulled out a diamond ring with a gold band.
It was beautiful and delicate and obviously old, but the diamond wasn’t anything to sneer at. Since his parents had married as teenagers, they’d had no money for an engagement ring, so his father had bought his mother this ring on their tenth anniversary, after the farm started to do really well.
Rob almost choked. “I can’t give her the ring, Mom! She’s only now agreed to go out with me.”
“I know. I’m not suggesting you give it to her now. I’m giving it to you to let you know that your father and I believe in you. And we believe you’re going to do right by her and win her heart in the end. Take it now, and you can give it to her when you’re ready to truly trust her.”
Rob was shocked speechless and ridiculously touched. He stared at the ring, trying to make his mind work, trying to make his muscles work, his mouth work. “I shouldn’t…” he began, unable to finish the thought.
“Yes, you should. It’s from me and your father. It’s a gift, and you can’t turn it down or you’ll hurt our feelings.”
“Take it,” his father muttered.
They couldn’t have said anything else that would have made him accept, but he reached out to take the ring from her hand. It was in what once had been a jeweler’s box, but the lid had broken off at some point, so the ring was visible, sitting in the slot in the velvet of the bottom half of the box. “But you should be wearing it,” he tried once more.
“It doesn’t fit my fat finger anymore, but it will fit hers. Not now. It sounds like you aren’t there yet. But when you are, when you’re ready to love each other and enjoy each other and depend on each other for the rest of your lives, you give her that.”
Rob had absolutely no idea what to say. He couldn’t help but imagine offering this ring to Allison—sometime in the future, when things were settled between them. He wondered if she would like it. It was old and not nearly as fancy as the one she’d probably gotten before.
But she hadn’t wanted that one. She hadn’t wanted her rich, arrogant husband.
Maybe, one day, she would want him.
“Thanks,” he mumbled, brutally self-conscious and more than ready to get out of there.
“You’re welcome.”
Because he loved his parents and he appreciated their attempts to help him, no matter how silly they made him feel, he gave his mother a tight hug and then his father one too before he left.
He took the ring with him. When he got home, he stuck it in the top drawer of his dresser with his socks, telling himself it would be a long time before he needed to worry about it.
It would be there when he needed it.
21
Allison hada fabulous lunch with Vicki at one of their favorite restaurants in the city. Vicki, of course, put her through a full interrogation on her relationship with Rob. Allison kept saying they were just having a good time and there wasn’t a future, but she wasn’t even sure she meant it anymore.
She was starting to have a hard time imagining the day when she wouldn’t want to be with Rob.
She was back home by three thirty with plenty of time to get ready for her date. Rob had called and said he’d made reservations, but since it was last minute, all of the later seatings were booked and he’d had to take six o’clock.
Allison didn’t care what time they ate. She was excited about going out with him. She was actually quite fluttery.
She spent a long time looking through her wardrobe until she finally decided on a pretty, sleeveless dress in a pale green color with subtly printed flowers and birds around the bottom of the flowing skirt. She looked really nice in it, and it would appear like she’d made an effort, but it wouldn’t be totally out of place in a mountain restaurant in the middle of nowhere.
Rob had told her the name of the restaurant, but she’d never been there, so she didn’t know what to expect.
When Rob knocked on her door, she opened it to discover he was holding a pretty bouquet of peonies. She smiled in surprise and was feeling more fluttery than ever as she went to put them in a vase so they wouldn’t dry out while she and Rob were at dinner.
