“You better tell her, because if you tell that blabbermouth Pam, everybody at school will know by the end of the day.”
The next morning, it took three feet of her aunt’s baby blue yarn, wrapped around and around the back of the ring, before it fit her. Shannon examined her work. It looked silly on her finger, but then that was the point, wasn’t it? To wear a ring so big that nobody could help but notice it. She had considered wearing the ring on the chain around her neck so she could tuck it inside her clothes, but Shannon knew her mother would find out. You couldn’t keep a secret in this town.
So this is what it was like to have somebody lay claim to you. Shannon twisted the key in the bottom of her pink jewelry box, and the small ballerina twirled around on pointe. The sticker on the bottom of the box said it was from The Nutcracker Ballet. She flipped open her notepad and scribbled, “Nutcracker” underneath “entrepreneur” and “flan.”
Shannon opened her hope chest and took out a quilt her grandmother had given her. “Put it in your hope chest for when you get married,” her granny had said. Instead of filling her chest with things for marriage, Shannon had filled it with books. She kept all her schoolbooks, even the ones from subjects she disliked. She dragged books home from the county library that were discarded from holdings or were unneeded donations. She had snatched a good dictionary and a book of famous quotations from the discard box last week. She didn’t like the Harlequin Romances that most women read, but she liked aching love stories like The Great Gatsby, Jane Eyre, and Wuthering Heights. She wanted a copy of Gone With the Wind, but a free one hadn’t turned up yet. She also liked unusual literature, and read horror by Stephen King and crazy stories by John Irving and disturbing work by Sylvia Plath and J. D. Salinger.
Shannon unfolded the quilt and removed a sparkling tiara. She piled her hair up on her head, put the crown on, and splayed her blonde curls out around it. “Here she is,” Shannon hummed. “Miss America.” When she was five, Shannon had been Little Miss Rural Electric. She had the clipping of her win in her scrapbook along with all her 4-H awards, the time she was chosen as the conservation poster contest winner in fifth grade, even every time her name appeared in a list for honor roll. Shannon had tacked her seventeen blue ribbons from 4-H and drama and speech club up on her bulletin board and her small trophies were lined up neatly across the top of her dresser. But Shannon hid the tiara because she didn’t want Will teasing her about it.
“Shannon!” her mother called. “Breakfast!”
“Yes, ma’am. Be right down.” Shannon wrapped the tiara back in the quilt and placed it inside the chest. She put the ring on her finger and thought about Kerry in his perfectly pressed jeans with the faded crease down the front and his starched shirts and his navy Future Farmers of America jacket with the gold emblem on the front. He was so controlled, so sure of what he wanted. But Shannon was off in so many directions that sometimes he looked at her like she was from another country, like she was speaking French or Russian.
It really wasn’t fair that she had taken his ring. She had dreaded the day when he would make the offer. It wasn’t that she didn’t like him. Kerry was cute and he was sweet to her, but Shannon knew his intentions were different from hers. All she wanted was to have a good time while she was stuck in this town, but she suspected Kerry saw something of a future for them—a future that would never develop. She was using him, but then again, she suspected he knew this and was gambling on a different outcome, at least one that involved sex.
Forks clanked against plates and coffee perked as Shannon descended the stairs. She slid into her chair and held her hand in her lap.
“Pass the eggs around, please, Shannon,” Virginia said. Shannon needed both hands to pick up the heavy platter. When Will took the plate, Shannon’s hand dropped, clunking the ring against the table.
“Good Lord, girl. Let me see what you got on that finger,” Patsy said.
Shannon held it up. “Kerry gave it to me.”
“That’s so nice. He’s a nice boy. Ain’t that nice, Virginia?” Patsy said.
Virginia puckered her lips.
“What does that mean, Shannon?” Patsy asked. “Does that mean you’re steadies now?”
“Sure,” Shannon said, cheerfully. “Kerry’s teaching me how to drive this morning. I’ll take my learner’s permit this summer, then Kerry’s going to let me drive home from school in the fall.”
“Brave man,” Will said.
“You’re going to work today, I see,” Virginia said to her son.
Patsy winked at Shannon and kept eating.
“I wanted to work today. I need the money. Jim says I can work any holiday and every Saturday I don’t have a game, and some Sundays. He’s got that contract for the new subdivision over by the lake. Fifteen houses.”
“It’s wonderful that you’re learning a trade. Electricians make good money,” Patsy said. “But you shouldn’t work on Sunday. That’s the Lord’s day.”
“Yeah, well,” Will said. “Jim’s being good to me. He’s cutting me slack on game days because he used to play ball.”
“I remember. We went to school together,” Virginia said.
“Really?” Will said.
Patsy laughed. “Your momma had a big crush on Jim Pickett.”
“Shoot,” Virginia said. “Every girl in school had a crush on Jim.”
“He’s not still married to Mary Jane is he?” Pasty asked.
“No, they got divorced years ago. Never had any kids. Some people say that’s why they broke up.”
“Since you’re so interested in Jim,” Will said, “you’d better go get fixed up because he’s coming by to pick me up this morning.”
“What? When?” Virginia said.
“About now.”
“Thanks for the warning,” Virginia said. “You know I wouldn’t want anybody to see me in this old nightgown.”
“Better scramble, Mom.” Will grinned.
“Let me tell you something.” Virginia scraped her plate into the trash. “There’s two things in this old world more trouble than they’re worth. That’s men and fireplaces. I don’t need either one ever again.”
There was a knock and they all froze. Virginia touched her hair.
“Too late, Mom,” Will whispered.
“Momma, it’s Kerry,” Shannon said and slapped her brother on the arm.
“I know that.” Virginia opened the kitchen door and said, “Come in the house. Get out of the cold.”
“Hey there, Miss Virginia.” Kerry stepped inside and nodded slightly to the table. “Aunt Patsy.”
Virginia smoothed her hair and put her hand on her hip and said calmly, “Want a ham biscuit?”
“That’d be great.”
The three at the table broke out in laughter. Eggs flew out of Patsy’s mouth, which made them all laugh harder.
“What’s so funny?” Kerry asked.
“They all think they’re so cute this morning,” Virginia said. She handed him a biscuit.
“Thank you.” Kerry took a bite and said, “It’s real good. Shannon, you ready to go?”
Shannon still had a smile when she pulled on her red wool school jacket and headed out on a run. “’Bye, Momma!” she said over her shoulder.
“Be careful with my little girl,” Virginia called.
Icicles trickled water from eaves, making