Page 2 of Fathers of the Bride

I shook myself back to reality and let her slip away. Trying to look stern, I said, “You have some explaining to do.”

“I know. I’m sorry I’ve been secretive.”

“And—”

She took a deep breath and asked, “Are we having wine with lunch?”

“I have a bottle of fumé blanc chilling. The kind you like from Trader Joe’s. Free range or whatever.”

“Fair trade. Don’t pretend you don’t know what that is. You did a segment on it. Season 11 episode 18.”

“Did I? It must have slipped my mind. We’re having my barbecue salad on the dining terrace.”

“Daddy, you’re the best.”

I was beginning to get nervous. What was it she was having trouble telling me? She could have told me by now.Shouldhave told me by now. Had something happened in Malawi? Was she ill? Had she caught something? Something deadly? They had terrible diseases—

“I’ll get the wine,” I said, sounding much calmer than I was. “Why don’t you go sit down?”

I slipped into the kitchen, took the bottle of white wine out of the wine fridge and went out to meet my daughter on the terrace. Fortunately, the wine had a screw top so there wasn’t a lot of falderal getting it open. I poured us each a glass.

When we were both seated, as calmly as possible, I asked, “How long have you been back?”

“I got back on Monday.”

“Monday?” My voice squeaked. I hated when that happened. “That’s almost a week.”

“I know,” she said, taking a big gulp of wine.

“Why didn’t I pick you up at the airport? Were you with Papa? Don’t say anything nice about him, I’ll be crushed.”

She smiled—the proverbial cat who’d just lunched on a tofu canary.

“I wasn’t with Papa.”

“Then where’ve you been?”

“Daddy, I’ve met someone.”

“You’ve met someone?”

“We’re getting married.”

If my life were a Hallmark commercial this is the point where I’d jump up squealing with glee. I, however, did not do that. I was, in fact, angry; very angry. I took a gulp of wine and fumed for a moment.

Kelly held out her left hand, as though to provide the evidence. There on her ring finger was a very large sapphire surrounded by many smaller, but notsmall, diamonds. It must have cost—

“The stones are all from conflict-free areas, mined using environmentally sound practices, and a portion of the proceeds is donated to support marriage equity around the world.”

Yes, that was all very important, except at that particular moment it wasn’t. This was all happening far too quickly.

“Who?” I asked, squeaking again.

“Avery. Avery Coll—”

“You’re marrying someone I’ve never met and never even heard of? I thought we were close?” The last part embarrassed me. It was the kind of thing my mother would have said when she wanted me to feel guilty. And I didn’t want Kelly to feel guilty… Okay, maybe I did. But I promise you, I did not feel good about it.

“Daddy, I was ten thousand miles away.”