Page 80 of The Singing Trees
She broke into laughter, watching him fumble for it. “I’d forgotten how graceful you were.”
Following another few failed attempts, he shrugged and exchanged the chopsticks for a fork. After finally enjoying a bite, he said, “Who knew? Raw fish and seaweed. This is really good.”
She stabbed a piece with a fork, dipped it into soy sauce and wasabi, and enjoyed her first bite. “That is good.”
He sipped his cold beer from a chilled glass. “We should go back and open up a sushi spot in Portland.”
“Something tells me,” Annalisa said, swallowing, “that sushi might not catch on back on the mainland for a while, but it is good.”
“Are you kidding me?” He went for another piece. “Nonna would dig raw tuna.”
“Oh, would she?” Nonna didn’t stray far from Italian food.
He grinned. “Sure, just put it on top of a heaping pile of pasta instead of her meatballs.”
The night was like that, full of silliness and back to the way things had been, two people finding happiness in the midst of the crazy world around them. Life without this man didn’t exist, not the way it was supposed to, and she couldn’t be the artist she wanted to be without loving him at the same time.
While they were finishing off their beers after dinner, Thomas reached across the table for her hand. “I want to ask you something.” She felt a tremble in his fingers.
Concerned, she said, “What is it?”
He was lost in her eyes, as if he were hypnotized by them.
“What?” she asked again.
Letting go of her hand, he slid his seat back and stood. Then he reached into the pocket of his khakis, drawing out a small box. Annalisa’s heart leaped. Was that what she thought it was? Rounding the table, he nervously and adorably lowered to one knee and gazed up at her. He opened the box and held it out, showing a gold band.
With those slivers of stardust looking up at her, he asked, “Annalisa Mancuso, will you marry me?”
She lost her breath, couldn’t believe this was happening—hadn’t even considered the possibility. The truth of her feelings came out as her lips curled up. Her entire body tingled as she said, “Yes. Yes. Yes! And yes! And even more yeses!”
He lit up. “Here I was thinking I’d have to convince you.”
As she looked at the man offering his life to her, though, she thought there could be no other way. She knew now more than ever that she did believe in love. Because theywerelove. She hadn’t believedin such a feeling growing up because she never could have believed in it until she met him.
“Yes,” she said, pulling him up and pressing her lips into his.
He slipped the band onto her finger. “I owe you a diamond when I get back.”
“I don’t care about a diamond,” she assured him, looking at this symbol of their life together. “You just come home in one piece, okay?”
Standing now, he touched her cheek. “Not even the entire North Vietnamese Army could keep me from coming home to you now.”
The reality of his coming home made Annalisa realize what they’d committed to. She thought of Nonna and what her family would think. Then, with a chill, she thought of his family, who didn’t even know she was here.
“So...,” she started. “Do your parents have any idea?”
He returned to his seat. “I thought we could wait until I got home to deal with them. What do you think?”
She thought about it. Hiding their engagement from Mr.Barnes was one thing, but keeping it from Mrs.Barnes and Emma felt wrong. “I don’t know. Maybe we should tell your mom and your sister, at least. MaybeIshould tell them.”
“I thought about writing them, but my dad gets the mail most of the time. I really don’t want you to have to deal with him while I’m there.”
She completely agreed, remembering how awful his father had been at the country club. “What if I just called the house and broke the news, asked your mom and sister to keep it a secret? They might appreciate it, you know? The last thing I want to do is give your sister another reason to dislike me.”
He tapped the table. “Yeah, maybe so. You know women better than I. But don’t feel like you have to. We can tell them together.”
“I think it could be a nice gesture,” she said.
