Inked by an Angel by Shauna Allen

and tucked the towel further under her armpits. “Of course I’m fine, Mom. Why wouldn’t I be? What’s going on?”
    Her mother sagged back and eyed her a few moments longer, wariness on her face. “Well, Charles called your father and I, and we were worried . . .”
    Oh. Right. “Charles called you? What did he say?” She led her mother into the living room.
    “Well, that you’d had a fight.” She glanced up from the couch where she’d perched on the edge with her ankles neatly crossed. “He said it was rather bad. He wasn’t sure if you were still getting married. We told him that was nonsense, of course.” She waved her hand.
    “Oh.” Kyle glanced at her answering machine, which was still blinking from the several calls from Charles, which she was currently ignoring. She didn’t know what to say to him. She turned back to her mother. “But that still doesn’t explain why you’d rush over here at ten in the morning and bang on my door threatening to call the police.”
    Her mother started to pick at the hem of her skirt and the tiniest hint of a flush rose on her cheeks. “Charles also said you wouldn’t return his calls and that he was afraid, given how you’d apparently behaved that evening, he was scared . . .”
    Kyle waited to hear what was so all-fired important that her mother would give up cocktails at the country club and race over for it. She cocked her hip and tapped her foot. “He was scared, what, Mother?” Then it dawned on her. “He thinks I’d hurt myself?” Her mouth dropped open. “Over him? You’ve got to be friggin’ kidding me!”
    “Well, Kyle, what else was he supposed to think?”
    She turned to walk away. “I’m gonna go get dressed.” She shook her head as she walked down the hallway and stopped at her bedroom door. “You know, he might’ve gotten the hint that I didn’t want to talk to him.”
    Kyle threw on some jeans and her old sorority T-shirt then returned to find her mother had made herself plenty comfortable. She’d started a pot of coffee and was flipping through a bridal magazine that had sat untouched on the kitchen sidebar since she’d brought it home from her last visit to the country club.
    “So.” Her mother looked up with a smile as Kyle slid on her glasses. “Have you made an appointment to go get fitted for a gown?”
    Kyle pulled down a mug and poured herself some of the coffee. She didn’t really want any, but she needed something to do. “No.”
    Her mother frowned. “Why not?”
    She shrugged.
    “Have you even flipped through here for ideas?”
    “I haven’t had time.”
    Kyle jumped when her mother slammed the magazine down. “Did you say anything to make Charles think you weren’t going to marry him?”
    She studied her mother’s pinched face. “Maybe.”
    Her mother sat down as her face grew pale. She looked over at Kyle, her eyes huge, her voice a whisper. “Did you call off the engagement?”
    Relenting, Kyle walked over and sat beside her. She covered her hand reassuringly. “No, I didn’t break up with him.” But she had been seriously considering it and she hadn’t been wearing the ring since he’d left that night. And she had to admit, it felt like a ton of weight had been lifted from her.
    Hope seemed to fill her mother’s eyes. “So, you just had a fight?”
    Kyle nodded. “Something like that.”
    “And you’re making him cool his heels?”
    “I guess.”
    “That’s my girl!” She patted her hand with vigor. “Make him beg for your forgiveness. Make him squirm a little.” She winked. “You’ll get a nice little bauble out of it, you’ll see.” She jumped up, grabbed the bridal magazine and flopped it open. “What do you think of this one?” She pointed to a bridesmaid’s gown. “I think it would look nice on your cousin Amanda, don’t you?”
    “Amanda?” Kyle’s head spun from the sudden turn of conversation.
    “Well, yes. I know she’s a bit on the plump side, but this would