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diamond.
    â€œWould you rather,” Jake asked, “have picked it out yourself? Phyllis said I should have let you do that, but I wanted to surprise you.”
    â€œNo,” she said, quickly. “It’s lovely, Jake.” She felt a stab of jealousy. He’d shown the engagement ring to his cousin first? Had he asked her advice about whether or not he should marry Louise? How would Jake’s family—all of them, he’d told her had adored Brenda—look on a new wife? Louise turned herself inside out with questions.
    The day they chose the wedding bands, she questioned the wisdom of excluding Danny from the wedding.
    â€œLet it go, Louise,” Jake said, with the same authority Louise had heard in his voice when he spoke to Daniel. Louise stared down at the diamond on her left hand, then at the man in the driver’s seat next to her. When she’d told her dad about the engagement, he’d hesitated before congratulating her. Was she absolutely sure, he’d asked, and she’d taken a deep breath and spilled out all of her doubts. But then, he’d patted her hand and told her Jake was a good man, and although the boy was a bit of a concern, when was life ever perfect?
    This was not going to be a perfect union, and that was all the more reason to make herself very clear. “I will not let anything go without a reasonable discussion, Jake. If I’m going to be part of this family, we make decisions together, including decisions about Daniel.”
    â€œAll right.” Jake didn’t take his eyes off the road. “We’ll be a democracy. I have no trouble with that. But Dan gets a say as well, and he’s cast the deciding vote on this one. I didn’t want to hurt your feelings, but he’s already refused to have any part of the wedding. We’ll be lucky to get him to the party afterward.”
    Jake sent Daniel to school the morning of the wedding. Better than leaving him at home, moping, he said, and they’d pick him up after school, go somewhere for a celebratory Slurpee before they took him home and cleaned him up for the reception. At the school, they waited until every last straggling child had exited the building, and then Jake went inside to look for his son. Daniel had gone home at lunch time, the secretary told him, and the neighbour who was the emergency contact on the school records had called to say he wasn’t feeling well and wouldn’t be back for the afternoon.
    While Jake went next door to Alice’s to collect Danny, Louise waited in the house. They were a long time returning. At the front door, Dan brushed past her without a word, straight to his bedroom. Jake coaxed him out later, even though this time Louise cast her vote in favour of leaving him at home to sulk.
    At the restaurant, Danny sat with arms folded, head down through the toasts. But when Louise glanced at him later, he was enthusiastically tucking into a plate of pasta. He looked up, twirled a strand of spaghetti around his fork, and sucked it slowly into his mouth, never taking his eyes from hers.
    Now it is Christmas and the three of them are on their way to Louise’s dad’s house with a miniature decorated tree, presents, and a fully-cooked Christmas dinner in several boxes. Jake has roasted the turkey and prepared the mashed potatoes and gravy. He is, Louise discovered, a decent cook when it comes to traditional country cuisine. Every Sunday, he takes over the kitchen and serves up a meat and potatoes meal. Exactly as his mother taught him, he says, but a skill he didn’t practice at all during his first marriage because Brenda was a better cook. Brenda was a sensational cook. Brenda was also a seamstress, Louise has been told, and sewed all her own clothes, the curtains, the cushion covers, and some sweatpants for Danny that he still wears even though they are so small now they fit like tights.
    This Christmas morning, though, Danny emerged