The Engagements by J. Courtney Sullivan Page B

“I want to wear this.”
    Kate took a deep breath. Crisis averted. Of course, there was still the business of the ring. She felt more certain than ever that Olivia had taken it. Was her niece trying to punish her? Would she put it back at the last minute? Or had she already done something crazy—swallowed it, or chucked it out into the woods?
    Kate’s mother popped her head into the room. “I just spoke to Carmen, and she said we’ll find the ring at the schoolhouse.”
    “Who’s Carmen?”
    “My psychic in Newark,” her mother responded, as if it should be obvious.
    “What schoolhouse?” Kate said.
    “I don’t know. Ava’s, I assume.”
    The only school Ava attended was a Mommy and Me class that met two mornings a week in the basement of a Mason hall.
    “Oh, well, if Carmen said so, then let me just run right over there and have them open the place on Saturday night.”
    “Don’t mock, she’s usually very accurate,” Mona said. “Is that what you’re wearing?”
    Kate looked down at her jeans and t-shirt. “Yes, I’m wearing jeans to the wedding.”
    “Well, you better get going!”
    “It takes me five minutes to get ready.”
    “Hmm.”
    That
hmm
conveyed so much. It said,
Yes, it takes you five minutes to get ready, and it shows
. Kate remembered watching her mother put on her makeup as a child—standing in front of the bathroom mirror, or sitting in traffic, carefully applying layer upon layer, on top of her perfectly fine skin. The whole routine lasted thirty minutes or so. She couldn’t imagine taking that much time every day to add something you were only going to rinse off eight hours later.
    Kate helped Ava into her dress, and gently combed her curls, which looked prettier natural than they had in that stupid hairstyle anyway. Ava’s hair felt stiff in places where the spray had made it clump together. Kate couldn’t wait to give her a bath and watch it all swirl down the drain.
    “DoAva nodded. Kate took her by the hand.
    “The tree out back is blooming,” she said. “Come on.”
    On the way, they passed the boys, still fighting on the staircase, wearing their dark suits.
    “Give it to me!” Leo shouted.
    “No, it’s mine!” Max said.
    “Fart head!”
    “Puss face.”
    “Be careful, you two, don’t fall,” she said.
    Boys were trouble. She’d been so lucky with what she got. She hopedDan could hear them too, so that he might be cured of his desire for another child.
    Olivia sat out on the deck in a floral party dress, playing with her Barbies. Despite what she had said to Ava, Kate felt sorry for her. Maybe she should have asked Jeff if they could have two flower girls. She was a mother; she ought to be more thoughtful. It would break her heart if Ava were the one to feel left out.
    Kate sat down beside her niece on the wooden slats, and Ava plunked down too.
    “What are these?” Ava said.
    Olivia looked aghast at her ignorance. “Barbies!” she said.
    Ava picked one up, and stroked its plastic hair.
    “Will I get Barbies when I’m bigger?” she asked.
    “You can borrow Olivia’s whenever she comes over,” Kate said, in lieu of
Hell no, you will never have a Barbie as long as I breathe air
.
    It wasn’t just Olivia, she realized. Soon enough, Ava would be in school with all sorts of kids whose parents let them do and say and eat all sorts of things. The time Kate had left to shelter her was slipping away. Sometimes she wished she could put her daughter back in the womb, protect her from every bit of harm.
    Kate had been scared of pregnancy, but hers was easy, as those things went. She opted for a home birth with a doula, after watching a documentary about the corporatization of hospital births. The midwife brought in an inflatable pool, which she filled with water and wedged between the TV and the sofa. Kate didn’t like the sensation of her belly floating there, so they moved her to the bed.
    Sixteen hours later, just after sunrise, as she stared out her