Chapter 12 - Cade Asked Serena for Permission
Cade wanted to marry Claire.
He did something he never would have done twenty years earlier.
He asked Serena first.
She stared.
“Why are you asking me?”
“Because I’m trying not to repeat family patterns.”
“What pattern?”
“Men making decisions and expecting women to approve afterward.”
Serena laughed for almost a minute.
“That’s disturbingly self-aware.”
“Answer.”
“Yes.”
“Yes?”
“Marry her.”
“Good.”
“But.”
Cade groaned.
“You have to tell her everything.”
“She knows everything.”
“No.”
Serena pointed at him.
“Tell her what you’re afraid of.”
Cade became quiet.
That was harder.
That night, he sat with Claire.
“I’m afraid I’ll become Dad.”
She looked at him.
“You won't.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Malcolm never worried about becoming Malcolm.”
Cade smiled.
“I’m afraid I’ll choose work.”
“I’ll throw your phone in Lake Michigan.”
“Reasonable.”
“I’m afraid you’ll wake up and realize this family is too much.”
Claire laughed.
“Cade, your niece once asked me whether federal prosecutors can arrest ghosts. I stayed.”
He laughed.
Then proposed.
Claire said yes.
May you like
Lena screamed.
Mara immediately asked whether cake selection had begun.
