Page 25 of Sunset on the Solstice

Later, after Jim and Monica went home, Jared updated her.

“They want me to have a psychological evaluation,” Jared said. “But I’ve been through so many tests already. I don’t want to go through more. And I’m fine, all things considered. Yes, I hit my head. Yes, I was in a coma for a second. But I’m basically ready to restart my life again. I see myself back at Harvard already in January.”

Shelby smiled with tears in her eyes. “You’re so strong,” she told him.

Her gut spasmed with a moment of panic: what about her own college career? But she’d figure it out, she knew. After Christmas. Sometime soon.

On December 12th, Jared was allowed to return home. Shelby wheeled him out of the hospital, where his father helped him into the back of the car. Shelby collapsed his wheelchair and put it in the trunk, then sat beside him, taking his hand. She couldn’t stop smiling. It was snowing, piling up on sidewalks that were already covered in white. It felt like the most magical holiday season. Far away in Cambridge, she knew, students were scrambling to finish the end of their semester, but Shelby was here with her beloved, and she didn’t want to be anywhere else.

During the lead-up to Christmas, Shelby did everything she could to make Jared happy. She baked cookies. She decorated the Christmas tree. She played card games that Jared and his parents taught her, and she told stories and jokes that made everyone smile pensively. Sometimes, it felt as though she were a great mystery to the Kissinger family. But she told herself to remain upbeat.

On Christmas Eve, Shelby woke up early to make cinnamon rolls. She’d told Jared she’d have them ready by the time he was up, and she wanted to make everything from scratch, which would take some time. When she reached the kitchen, she found Monica already awake, sipping coffee and looking out the window at the snow. It struck Shelby that Monica was really so beautiful, and that normally, her icy demeanor made Shelby forget that.

“Good morning,” Shelby said hesitantly. It was rare that she was alone with Monica.

Monica turned to look at her. “Of course. The cinnamon rolls.”

Shelby blushed and pulled flour and sugar from the cabinet. “Can I get you anything?”

Monica said nothing but continued to look at her. Shelby’s cheeks got hotter and hotter.

“You know,” Monica said finally. “I imagine my son will propose to you. I imagine you’ll be my daughter-in-law, sooner rather than later.”

Shelby’s stomach flipped. “I hope so,” she offered. “I love your son very much.”

Monica sipped her coffee. She didn’t seem surprised by this. “My son. Is he kind to you?”

“He’s very kind,” Shelby said.

“And you really see your future with him? Because I have to tell you, Shelby, a future in the Kissinger family isn’t easy. I remember when I married in. Jim’s mother took me aside and told me exactly how I was supposed to dress and exactly what I was supposed to say. I keep thinking I need to do that with you. But you’ve been a mystery to me from the start. Jared followed you around all summer long, yes. But I didn’t think…” She trailed off, as though she couldn’t bring herself to say anything else.

Shelby grew panicked, realizing that Jared’s mother didn’t fully approve of their relationship. She wondered whether Monica had already mentioned this to Jared. She wondered if she’d suggested to Jared, “Maybe this woman isn’t the woman for you.”

But just then, Jim came in for a cup of coffee, breaking up their awkward conversation. Shelby threw herself into baking, acting much more chipper than she felt. And later, when Jared dug into a warm cinnamon roll, his smile lit her up from the inside.

It was on Christmas morning, in front of his parents and the immaculate Christmas tree, that Jared asked Shelby to marry him. He slipped a beautiful diamond ring on her finger and kissed her while she cried quietly. “You were there with me every step of the way,” Jared said. “I can’t imagine living my life with anyone else.”

Jared told her later that he wanted to get married as soon as possible, that he didn’t want to miss a moment together going forward. “We can have a party later,” he said. “But we’ll do something at the courthouse beforehand.”

Jared never asked her once about Columbia. Quietly, she dropped out, preparing her heart and mind to be the wife Jared needed her to be in the wake of his head injury. She’d go back to school soon, she told herself. But life was happening, right before her. She didn’t want to miss it.

13

Nantucket Island, Christmas 2026

Over on Nantucket Island, Rebecca was none the wiser about Shelby’s school situation. It was Christmas, and although she was sad that Shelby wasn’t on the island to celebrate with the entire Sutton family, she knew that Shelby was where she needed to be, just then. At least, Shelby was where Shelby felt she needed to be. Shelby was with Jared, her stupid, arrogant, selfish, and injured boyfriend. This would not be forever, Rebecca told herself. One day soon, Shelby would figure out just how devastating Jared was for her sense of self. She would figure out that he was, in every sense, a “dead end,” blocking Shelby from her full potential and inner happiness.

The things Rebecca had heard Jared say to Shelby when he thought nobody could hear him chilled her to the bone. She’d heard them during her trips to the hospital during the weeks after he’d woken up.

Shelby, sit up straight. You look so sloppy when you slouch.

Shelby, come on, don’t eat that. That will make you fat.

Shelby, if you’re going to be my wife, you need to read more Henry James. Seriously, I can’t believe you know so little about Henry James.

Always when he got into his anti-Shelby loops, Rebecca gaped at him, unable to speak. She didn’t know how to stop him. She didn’t know how to stand up for Shelby, when it seemed she’d paired herself up with a monster.

Rebecca didn’t care that maybe his cruelty was a result of the head injury. What mattered now was his cruelty. She didn’t want Shelby to learn to live with it.