Page 17

“June ninth. City Hall, two witnesses, lunch after at a diner with no sign on the door. You wore blue.”

“I don’t own anything blue.”

“You do now. Check the garment bag in your closet tonight.”

Her eyes close for a slow count. “You bought a dress for the wedding we never had.”

“Thorough,” we say together, and she looks murderous about the harmony.

“And the part where you’re paying me?” she asks.

“Remains across the Atlantic. Ma can believe you handle Sarah’s care. She cannot know about any fee, contract, or end date. To her, you’re simply my wife, who is the best doctor for Sarah’s care.”

She taps the folder between us. “She’ll see through it. Mothers see through everything.”

“She’ll see what she decides to see. She always has. Give her Sarah, healthy and laughing, and she’ll decide you’re the best person in the world.” I flip the page. “Family. Your brother in Honolulu knows what?”

“Nothing, because somebody confiscated my phone.”

“It’s back in your bag. You’ll call him from the estate with a cheerful tone, sharing your whirlwind romance—use the same story we use with my mother to keep the story straight. Keep the call brief. Your brother creates smart machines for a living, and lengthy conversations give intelligent people time to dig.”

Her eyes narrow. “You researched my brother.”

“I research everyone standing near my family. If you stop underestimating me, you’ll be less surprised.” I slide the folder aside and set the ring box between us. Black velvet, older than this aircraft. “Ready to look like a new bride?”

She doesn’t reach for it. “You had time to buy rings.”

“I already had rings. My grandmother’s stone, reset into a ring that will fit you⁠—”

“Of course you know my fucking ring size.”

I move past the details that would explain it. “Ma will read your hand first and your face second, and both need to survive the scrutiny.”

I open the box toward her, and the stone goes to work. It is obscene. I know it is obscene. Subtlety would have insulted my grandmother. The woman traipsed around in gold and furs and exorbitant everything. If the stone had been smaller than her thumbnail, it would have landed in the Med along with my grandfather.

Plus, I wanted to watch the doctor pretend the thing failed to impress her.

She fails instead. Her eyes catch on the stone and stay caught, and her mouth opens with no words attached. That view does more for me than most of my year combined.

“That’s a headlight,” she says at last. “People will see me from orbit.”

“Then everyone will know you’re married. Efficient.”

She slides it on, and it fits. Her eyes narrow at the fit. “How?”

“The jewelry dish on your dresser. Blue enamel. My man has a good eye for sizing.”

“I hate every part of this conversation.” She looks at the stone again anyway, longer this time. “Except that ring.”

I knew it. “Page three. Conduct at the estate.”

“Conduct.” Ten degrees colder.

“My mother raised me Catholic and suspicious, and separate bedrooms would end the performance by breakfast, so you sleep in my room. You don’t discuss my business with anyone. If anyone outside the family asks about it, you look bored, then tell me all about it.”

“Fine, whatever.”

“And you don’t leave the property without me or Nick.”