was actually necessary for the commitment to stand. Although, in my mother’s eyes, it went an awfully long way.
“No. I assumed you were engaged to climb the Swiss Alps together,” she said in a rare display of outright sarcasm.
“Congratulations, my darling,” Dad said, although his glance out of the corner of his eye towards my mother somewhat diminished the sentiment.
“Congratulations?” Mother looked at him in horror. “We know nothing about this man to have any notion if congratulations are in order, Aubrey!”
“Of course, Priscilla.”
“This is very sudden, Leah. How long have you known this man?”
“Long enough to know I want to marry him.” It was vague enough to get on her nerves.
Mother looked me over like she wanted to say it mustn’t have been very long at all then, but she knew me. She knew I wasn’t the sort to let a new love run wild and get engaged as a flight of fancy only to regret it down the track. That had been Anna when she was younger – though not with Mike – but never me.
“I see. And the family ring wasn’t good enough was it?” Mother asked.
“To be honest with you, I didn’t know there was a family ring until after I’d asked,” Patrick said, just as we’d prepared.
“And when he’d gone and specially selected one for me, I felt rude to ask him to do it again with another ring,” I added.
Mother opened her mouth, but Dad cut her off with a gentle hand to her arm. “Perfectly understandable.”
Mother rolled her eyes as much as she could while pretending she hadn’t while making sure I’d seen it. “Give me a proper look at it, then.”
I held my hand out, beaming at Patrick as I did. Honestly, it was a gorgeous ring; white gold band with a cluster of diamonds inlaid with a single ruby.
Mother’s eye ran over it and I knew she’d have nothing she could feasibly complain about. It wasn’t gaudy or so high fashion it would be considered hideous in a couple of years, and it clearly had enough diamonds to be worth what she’d consider a reasonable amount of money for such an important item.
“Well,” she finally said as she released my hand. She gave Patrick a begrudging nod. “Your taste isn’t abysmal, at least.”
It was the most complimentary she’d allow herself to be. Making sure she at least didn’t just say no was the first step to the whole charade. We didn’t want her to be too accepting, obviously. Of course, if my initial plan of horrifying her so much with my choice of fiancé backfired, I could always fall back on the hope that she’d think my heart was so broken she’d still never mention marriage again. I was looking at this whole thing as a win-win.
“Well, I’m very happy for you,” Dad said, extending his hand to shake Patrick’s again. “Good man for making an honest woman out of her.”
Patrick nodded. “Thank you, sir. I just hope I can be worthy.”
Dad clapped him on the shoulder and started leading him to the table. “Call me Aubrey, son. And that’s all we can ever really hope for isn’t it…”
“Leah. Why don’t you help me bring lunch in,” Mother said.
I nodded, sparing one look to Patrick before I followed her out.
“I suppose you think I would have said no if we’d met him before he proposed?”
I swallowed. “Uh, I didn’t actually really have time to think about it. It’s all just sort of happened.”
“Are you living together?”
“No. Not yet.”
She nodded once. “Good.”
I tried for the more informal moniker, “Mum–” but she cut me off.
“You’re keeping your options open, at least. Not entirely stupid, then.” Before I could come up with any sort of retort for that, she continued, “How’s Edward?”
I blinked as she handed me a dish. “Fine. I think.”
“You saw him last weekend, I hear.”
I couldn’t have begun to guess who’d told her. “I did. I felt it rude not to say hello. Harris didn’t mind.”
My mother clicked her tongue. “Harris hasn’t the brain cells to mind anything.”
“You set me up with him!” I accused.
She shrugged. “Always better to keep your options open.”
I scowled. “I don’t need options. I have Patrick.”
“Yes. Now.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“It means the future is always uncertain, Leah. Which is why it is important we keep our options open.”
Oh, game on, woman, I thought as I followed her back to the dining room.
She had a plan, or was at the very least formulating a plan