The room became completely still.
Ethan looked around the table and then back at Clara.
“At first, I came because of your father.”
Clara’s face fell slightly, but she kept listening.
“I came because I promised him you would have support.”
She nodded.
“But later, the legal problem ended. You had Diane. You had your aunt. You did not need me.”
“No,” Clara said.
“I still came.”
“Why?”
“Because I wanted to.”
Clara waited.
Ethan struggled for words.
“Because when something funny happened, I wanted to tell you.”
Her expression softened.
“Because my apartment felt empty after you left.”
He stepped closer.
“Because you ask me direct questions when everyone else lets me hide.”
Clara looked at him carefully.
“Because you are stubborn,” Ethan continued. “You are kind. You make terrible coffee. You leave clay everywhere.”
“I clean it.”
“Not all of it.”
“That is not important.”
“No. It isn’t.”
His voice shook.
“I love you.”
Clara did not speak.
“I love you,” he repeated. “Not because your father saved me. Not because you are pregnant. Not because I feel sorry for you.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“I love you because you are Clara.”
She wiped her face
“Why did you not say that before?”
“Because I was afraid.”
“You are big.”
“That does not mean I’m brave.”
She thought about that.
Then she pointed at the engagement ring on the table.
“I took it off.”
“I noticed.”
“Pick it up.”
Ethan obeyed.
“Ask again.”
He lowered himself onto one knee.
“Clara Vale, will you marry me?”
She looked at Diane.
Diane smiled but did not answer for her.
Clara looked at my mother, then my father, then me.
Finally, she looked back at Ethan.
“Yes.”
He placed the ring on her finger.
Then Clara said, “But no more secret promises.”
“No more.”
“And when the baby cries, you get up.”
“We should discuss a schedule.”
“No.”
Everyone laughed.
Even my father.
The wedding took place six days later in the glass conservatory at Bellmere Botanical Hall.
Clara wore an ivory dress with long sleeves and a gold ribbon beneath her belly. Her hair was pinned back with small white flowers.
Ethan wore a dark suit and the silver watch Dr. Vale had given him after university.
Before the ceremony, my father asked to speak to Clara.
“I need to apologize,” he said.
Clara studied him.
“For what?”
“For assuming Ethan could not truly love you.”
She waited.
My father continued.
“I thought he was acting out of guilt.”
“He did feel guilty.”
“Yes.”
“But that is not all.”
“No.”
Clara nodded.
“Good apology.”
My father almost smiled.
“Thank you.”
“You can still come to the wedding.”
“That is generous.”
