He gave no explanation for the attention turning to him. “Go on,” he said. “What else did the letter say?”
“Prudence—that’s Shamus’s aristocratic wife—said the carriage was made to cheer Edilean up because the last of her children had married and moved out of their house.”
“I understand that!” Mrs. Frazier said as she looked at her five grown children. “Go on, Gemma.”
“Mrs. Frazier—the first one, that is—said that Shamus put a plaque under the seat, but he doubted if anyone would ever see it.”
To Gemma’s consternation, both Lanny and Shamus stood up.
“Shamus,” Mr. Frazier said, and the young man grabbed a couple of rolls and left the room.
Gemma looked across the table at Colin, her eyes asking him what was going on.
He smiled. “Dad has a lot of the old wagons and carriages stored in warehouses in the back. One of the prettiest is yellow with black seats. My little brother went to see if he could find the plaque.”
“You didn’t think to tell me that you have eighteenth-century carriages stashed away? I could have searched them for information,” Gemma said before she thought, then remembered where she was. She glanced at the others. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—”
All of the Fraziers started laughing, and Lanny slapped Colin on the back. “Our brother likes to keep secrets.”
“Better than blabbing everything to everyone,” Colin answered and everyone started talking again.
Next to Gemma was Frank, but she hadn’t been able to say a word to him.
Ariel, on the other side of him, leaned forward. “Gemma, would you like for me to take the attention off of you?”
“Could you please?” Gemma watched as Ariel reached inside her trouser’s pocket and withdrew a diamond ring. Under the cover of the dining table, she slipped it on her left ring finger. “That should do it,” Gemma said softly. She couldn’t resist kissing Frank’s cheek in congratulations—a gesture that brought everyone to a halt.
“Colin, it looks like you have some competition,” Pere said.
Colin looked at Gemma, and this time he was the one wanting information.
Ariel broke the silence by reaching her left hand far across the table to her mother at the end. “Mom, will you hand me the carrots, please?”
No one paid any attention to her—but Mrs. Frazier did. She reacted with a little scream, grabbed her daughter’s hand, and pulled so hard Ariel nearly landed in a bowl of collard greens.
“What in the world, Alea?” Mr. Frazier asked.
By that time, Mrs. Frazier had pulled her daughter out of her chair and was hugging her, kissing her face, and crying copiously and loudly.
Everyone else was still seated, but they were staring at Ariel and her mother in wonder. Ariel clarified the matter by holding up her left hand and flashi
ng her new ring.
Mr. Frazier, obviously well pleased, looked at Frank. “Think you can stand to be one of us?”
“I might survive it,” Frank said. “I know now isn’t the right time, but I’d like to talk to you about buying that old building you own, the one at the end of McTern road. Mike and I think it would be a good place to open our gym.”
“It’s yours,” Mr. Frazier said. “And there’ll be no talk of payment.”
“I can’t—” Frank began.
“Yes, he can,” Ariel said loudly as she pulled away from her mother. “Anyone want to see my ring?”
All the women said yes and even Pere’s model girlfriend seemed to come alive.
“Dad,” Ariel said, “I want the biggest, most expensive wedding this town has even seen. And I want Sara Shaw to be my matron of honor.”
“If you told her before I knew—” Mrs. Frazier began, but Ariel cut her off.