Free Here to Stay by Margot Early Page B

room had rarely been used.
    Mrs. Atherton said, “Would you like something to drink after your drive? I have lemonade.” Her eyes had already taken in the slim wedding bands, and when Elijah saw her gaze, he wished he’d insisted on getting Sissy an engagement ring at the time they’d bought the wedding bands. But Sissy had said, “I’ll always be taking it off, anyhow. We don’t need it.”
    But he had bought her a heart-shaped iolite stone that hung on a gold chain because it was the same violet shade as her eyes, and Sissy loved it.
    “I’m fine,” Elijah said.
    “Me, too.” Sissy clung to his hand as she sank down on the couch. He sat beside her.
    Her parents settled down, too, her mother on the very edge of a wingback chair, her father on a heavier chair opposite her.
    “Elijah and I are married,” Sissy said. “We’re going to live in Kansas City. He works for the Humane Society, as you know, and I’m going to train dogs.”
    “Are you all right for money?” Mr. Atherton asked, actually quite compassionately.
    “Yes,” Elijah said quickly.
    “When did all this happen?” Mrs. Atherton said in a determinedly uninvolved tone.
    “This morning,” Sissy replied, with a serene smile.
    Her mother lifted her eyebrows thoughtfully.
    Sissy realized she was digging her nails into Elijah’s palm and stopped.
    “Where have you been since June nineteenth?” her mother next asked in a slightly less neutral tone. “Living together?”
    “Yes,” Sissy said. “And now we’re married.”
    Her father’s jaw became quietly set. He simply nodded.
    Heloise said, “Well, you’ve both got a long row to hoe.”
    Elijah realized that all his imaginings of this moment with the Athertons had fallen short of the unpleasant reality. To start with, they doubted he’d be able to take care of their daughter.
    But he would. The Athertons had a different living standard than he did, but he and Sissy would have enough money.
    Mr. Atherton stood up abruptly. “Well, I’m erecting a new toolshed. Would you like to see it, Elijah?”
    It seemed an awkward suggestion, and Elijah remembered, in that moment, that the Athertons planned things in advance. Was Mr. Atherton arranging for his wife to be alone with Sissy? Elijah could hardly refuse.
    “Thank you. I’d like to see it.”
    He squeezed Sissy’s hand and looked at her to make sure she would be all right. But she seemed undismayed by the turn of events, and was already glaring at her mother with fierce determination.
     
    M R. ATHERTON SAID , “I think you should call me Alan.”
    “Thank you,” Elijah answered.
    Alan studied the newly erected toolshed, and Elijah stood beside him, also looking. Alan said, “Her mother’s going to take this hard.”
    Elijah nodded. He didn’t apologize for the way he and Sissy had done things.
    “If I told you my concern,” Sissy’s father continued, “I’m not sure you’d believe me.”
    Elijah glanced up at his father-in-law’s profile.
    “I remember when you planned to attend university. I remember your curiosity about things, Elijah. And now—well, I can see that the university education just won’t be possible. I don’t like the situation for you because I know you to be capable of much more than you’re doing.”
    Blinking, Elijah glanced at his father-in-law, then reached out and touched the toolshed, pretending to admire it, but thinking instead. Listening.
    When Alan didn’t continue, Elijah told him, “What I do for the Humane Society matters. I protect animals.”
    “Yes, but you have great curiosity, Elijah, and a good mind. I’ve never forgotten the way you observed our dogs, trying to find out what makes each animal tick, watching how they interact with one another. Myself, I imagined you might become an animal behaviorist, something like that.”
    Elijah flinched at his father-in-law’s perceptiveness.
    Alan Atherton turned, gazed at Elijah. They were the same height, perhaps Elijah a half inch