Chapter 19 - Emma’s Question
Emma asked us to remarry during a dentist appointment.
Not after a romantic dinner.
Not during Christmas.
While I was completing an insurance form.
Vincent had brought her because I had been delayed at work.
I arrived just as the hygienist called her name.
Emma looked between us.
“Since you’re dating, when are you getting married again?”
The receptionist became intensely interested in her computer.
Vincent looked at me.
I looked at him.
Emma sighed.
“You both do that.”
“Do what?” I asked.
“Look at each other when you don’t want to answer.”
Vincent cleared his throat.
“Your mother and I haven’t decided to get married.”
“Why?”
“It’s complicated.”
“That means adults don’t know.”
I covered a smile.
The hygienist rescued us.
“Emma?”
She disappeared through the door.
Vincent sat beside me.
“Well.”
“Don’t.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You were about to.”
“I was about to say our daughter is terrifying.”
“That’s acceptable.”
He leaned back.
“Have you thought about it?”
There it was.
I looked at the forms in my lap.
“Yes.”
His breathing changed.
“But thinking isn’t deciding.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
I turned toward him.
“I like what we have.”
“So do I.”
“I don’t want marriage to become a shortcut.”
“It wouldn’t.”
“You can’t promise that.”
“No.”
That answer helped.
He continued.
“I can promise I wouldn’t ask you because Emma wants it, or the board wants it, or my mother wants it.”
“Does Margaret?”
“She has a Pinterest board.”
I stared.
He laughed.
“She thinks I don’t know.”
“Oh my God.”
“The board is called Normal Ideas.”
“That sounds threatening.”
“It is.”
Emma emerged twenty minutes later with a clean bill of dental health and a plastic ring from the prize box.
She placed it in Vincent’s palm.
“For practice.”
I nearly dropped my purse laughing.
He looked horrified.
“Emma.”
“What?”
“You don’t give adults engagement rings.”
“Why?”
“Because—”
He looked at me.
I raised both hands.
“You’re on your own.”
Emma took the ring back.
“Fine. I’ll keep it.”
On the drive home, she became quiet.
Then she asked, “Are you scared you’ll get divorced again?”
I turned off the radio.
Vincent’s hands tightened on the steering wheel.
“Yes,” I said.
Emma looked at me.
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“Dad?”
He answered after a moment.
“Yes.”
“Then why date?”
I looked through the windshield.
Because she deserved an honest answer.
“Because being scared doesn’t always mean something is wrong. Sometimes it means something matters.”
Emma considered that.
“Do you trust Dad?”
The question landed hard.
I could have given the easy answer.
Instead, I said, “More than I used to.”
Vincent said nothing.
Emma looked at him.
“Does that hurt your feelings?”
“A little.”
“Dr. Hayes says I don’t have to fix grown-up feelings.”
Vincent smiled.
“She’s still right.”
At home, Emma ran inside.
Vincent stayed beside the car.
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For telling the truth.”
“I wasn’t trying to be kind.”
“I know.”
He looked toward the house.
“I trust you more than I used to too.”
I blinked.
“That’s bold.”
“You left without destroying me.”
“I divorced you.”
“You could have destroyed me.”
“You did a decent job yourself.”
He laughed softly.
Then became serious.
“I used to think trust meant believing someone would never leave.”
I waited.
“Now I think it means believing they won’t lie just to make staying easier.”
The porch light came on.
Emma opened the door.
“Are you coming?”
Vincent called back, “Yes.”
She disappeared again.
He looked at me.
“No ring.”
“Good.”
“No plan.”
“Better.”
“Dinner Friday?”
“Yes.”
He kissed my forehead.
Then we walked inside.
The plastic ring from the dentist sat on the kitchen counter.
Emma had placed it beside a note.
JUST IN CASE.
I left it there.
May you like
Not as a promise.
As a reminder that love could be hopeful without becoming impatient.
