Page 110 of Summer Weddings
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” he shouted. Standing outside her family home yelling probably wasn’t the best way to introduce himself to her father, but John couldn’t help it. He was angry, and with good reason.
“You know exactly what I mean,” she replied in a furious whisper.
“Are you referring to the night we made love?”
Mortified, Sally closed her eyes. “Do you have to shout it to the entire neighborhood?”
“Yes!”
Sally glared at him. “I think we’ve said everything there is to say.”
“Not by a long shot, we haven’t,” John countered. “Okay, so we made love.Big deal. I’m not perfect, and neither are you. It happened, but we haven’t gone to bed since then, have we?”
“John, please, not so loud.” Sally glanced uneasily over her shoulder.
His next words surprised him, springing out despite himself. “I wasn’t the first, so I don’t understand why you’re making such a big deal of it. Too late now, anyway.” He would never have said this if he hadn’t felt so angry, so betrayed.
Tears leapt instantly into her eyes and John would’ve given his right arm to take back the hurtful words. He’d rather suffer untold agonies than say anything to distress Sally, yet he’d done exactly that.
The door behind her opened and a burly lumberjack of a man walked out onto the porch. “What’s going on here?”
Sally gestured weakly toward John. “Daddy, this is John Henderson. He—he’s a friend from Hard Luck.”
Finding his daughter sniffling back tears wasn’t much of an endorsement, John thought gloomily. He squared his shoulders and offered the other man his hand. “I’m pleased to meet you, Mr. McDonald.”
“The name’s Jack. I don’t understand why my daughter hasn’t seen fit to invite you into the house, young man.” He cast an accusatory frown in Sally’s direction. “Seems you’ve come a long way to visit her.”
“It doesn’t look like I was as welcome as I thought I’d be,” John muttered.
“Nonsense. It’s Christmas Day. Since you’ve traveled all this distance, the least we can do is ask you to join us and give you a warm drink.”
John didn’t need anything to warm him. Spending time with the McDonald family would only add to his frustration and misery, but Jack McDonald gave him no option. Sally’s father quickly ushered him inside.
Swallowing his pride, John followed the brawny man up a short flight of stairs and into the living room. The festivities ceased when he appeared. Sally’s father introduced him around, and her mother poured him a cup of wassail that tasted like hot apple cider.
“I don’t believe Sally’s mentioned you in her letters home,” Mrs. McDonald said conversationally as a chair was brought out for John.
He felt his heart grow cold and heavy with pain. Forcing himself to observe basic good manners, he thanked Sally’s brother for the chair. All those months while he was pining over Sally, he hadn’t rated a single line in one of her letters home. Although he’d told her their making love had been no big deal, ithadbeen. For him. He loved her. But apparently their relationship wasn’t important enough for Sally to even mention his name.
“I told you about John,” Sally said.
John wondered if that was true, or if she was attempting to cover her tracks.
“John’s the bush pilot I wrote you about.” Sally sat across the room from him and tucked her hands awkwardly between her knees as if she wasn’t sure what to do with them.
“Oh yes, now I remember. Don’t think you said his name, though.” Her father nodded slowly. And her mother sent him a bright smile.
John drank the cider as fast as he could. It burned going down, but he didn’t care. He drained the cup, stood and abruptly handed it to Sally’s mother.
“Thank you for the drink and the hospitality, but I should be on my way.”
Jack bent down to the carpet and retrieved something. “I believe you dropped this, son,” he said.
To John’s mortification, Sally’s father held out the engagement ring.
He checked his pocket, praying all the while that there were two such rings in this world, and that the second just happened to be in Sally’s home. On the floor. Naturally, the diamond Jack held was the one he’d bought for Sally. Without a word, he slipped it back inside his suit pocket.
“It was a pleasure meeting everyone,” he said, anxiously eyeing the front door. He’d never been so eager to leave a place. Leave and find somewhere to be by himself.
