“Are you saying I may propose to Alice after all? I would like to ask her the night of the Barn Dance.”
Mr. Bennett gave John his full attention. “You seem determined, and I give you credit for thinking this through. Yes, you have my blessing.”
John had replayed this conversation in his head so many times since then. Getting the approval of Alice’s father had seemed unlikely, so having Mr. Bennett’s blessing had been a gift dropped at his feet. It only got better from there.
When a customer had arrived at the mill, John had quickly added a last thought. “If she’ll have me, I promise to spend the rest of my days making Alice happy.”
In response, his future father-in-law said, “I have no doubt you will.”
Now, tonight, at the dance, John bided his time, waiting for the right opportunity to broach the subject. He’d imagined the dance to be a romantic place, and while dancing with Alice was wonderful, the hall was crowded and humid. Too many people and so much noise. He wanted to ask her to marry him when he had her undivided attention and there were no distractions. So far, he hadn’t encountered any such conditions.
If Pearl was not around, and if it were just the two of them, he could pull the wagon aside on the way home and ask her to marry him under the starry night sky, but of course, Alice’s father would not have allowed her to ride alone with a man unchaperoned. Maybe it would be different when they were engaged.
The evening wore on, the minutes building to hours, and John despaired of finding the perfect moment to propose. To make matters worse, while he and Alice stopped to rest and drink punch, some kind of fight broke out on one side of the hall, a young woman wailing and carrying on something terrible while other people clustered around. “Whatever is going on?” Alice asked, craning her neck to see.
“I don’t know, but it looks like Mrs. Donohue is involved somehow.” John could see the plump lady, hands on her hips, taking charge of the situation.
A few minutes later, Pearl wove her way across the hall to find John and Alice. She blurted out, “You won’t believe what just happened! Mrs. Donohue caught Lorraine Whitt kissing one of the Farber twins. Lorraine claimed she was just whispering in his ear, but there were other witnesses besides Mrs. Donohue who saw it plain as day. Lorraine can deny it all she wants, but everyone knows she did it.”
“Lorraine Whitt? But she’s Helen’s age,” Alice said, shocked. “Barely thirteen!”
Pearl’s eyes widened. “I know. Isn’t it outrageous? Kissing a boy she hardly knows. Right out in public too!”
“Poor Lorraine,” Alice said, watching as people left the dance floor to go witness the scene unfolding. Lorraine was still wailing as if she’d broken a leg; others were now chiming in to offer their opinions.
“Poor Lorraine?” Pearl spoke incredulously. “I don’t feel one bit sorry for her. She brought it upon herself.” She craned her neck to get a better look. “I can’t see much of anything from here. I’m going back.” Hastily, she turned and headed toward the turmoil.
Alice switched her attention to John, and a sudden look came across her face. “I’ve just had a thought,” she said, setting her punch glass down on the table. “Come with me.”
Without a word, he set his glass down as well and kept her in his sights as she worked her way toward the door. Because the ticket taker had left her station to see what the racket was all about, they were able to slip outside unnoticed.
The cooler air was a welcome relief after being in the stuffy barn for so long. “What are we doing out here?” John asked.
Smiling, Alice took his hand and led him down a path around the barn, away from where the wagons were parked. “I got tired of talking over the noise,” she said to him, calling back over her shoulder. “I wanted to have time with you before our evening is over.”
Once his eyes adapted to the dark, John realized she was leading him toward the lakefront. When they got closer to the water, a cloud moved, revealing a nearly full moon above the lake. Half a dozen rowboats tied up to the pier shimmied and bumped while silvery moonlight glistened on the surface of the water.
“Let’s go for a boat ride,” she said, turning with a grin. Behind her the boats bobbed, tantalizingly empty.
“You want to go for a ride in someone else’s boat and leave the dance? Aren’t you afraid of getting into trouble?”
“Perhaps a little afraid,” she admitted. “But my thinking is that with all the commotion with Lorraine Whitt, we have at least an hour before anyone notices we’re gone. And if they do, I can say I felt ill, so you took me outside to catch my breath.”
“But that would be a lie,” John said. “And I don’t believe you are someone who lies, Alice Bennett.”
“Normally that is true, but I am willing to make a onetime exception so I can spend time with you.”
Under different circumstances, Alice’s reputation risked being ruined, but John had to believe that coming back an engaged woman would smooth out any rumors that might arise from their absence. Oh, he couldn’t wait to ask her to be his wife. He had not felt this joyful since he was a child. Back then, when he hadn’t known so much, the world was a simpler, kinder place. With Alice by his side, he was starting to think it could be again.
He helped her into the boat and then climbed in, taking the seat opposite her before untying the rope that anchored them to the pier. “We are lucky that whoever owns these boats left the oars behind,” he said.
“It was not luck. Chances are, the boat belongs to someone who lives on the lake, and they are now at the dance.”
She sounded cheerfully self-assured. This was a side of Alice he’d only glimpsed before, but he liked it. He asked, “And what if they come out and find their boat gone? What then?”
“We’ll be back soon enough. I want to show you the island. It’s only a few minutes from here.” She moved forward so their knees touched, and John felt his breath catch in his throat at the intimacy. They were alone now, really alone, floating along on a sparkling lake. In the distance, he heard the band playing and the bleat of an automobile horn, but the noises were far away, as if in a dream.
Alice pointed. “It’s right over there. See it?” He turned his head and saw a simple patch of ground thick with trees rising above the water in the middle of the lake. The island was not much larger in area than the barn they’d just come from. It would be the perfect place for him to propose to Alice, creating a memory only the two of them would share.
He dipped the oars into the water and pulled with ease, creating a rhythm. Ahead of them came a little splash, startling him. She laughed and said, “Don’t be so jumpy. It’s just a fish.” Leaning back, he swung the oars as far as possible, then pulled deep, making the boat skim quickly across the water. “Show-off,” she said, teasing. Her hand trailed into the water, her fingertips skimming the surface.
John gave her a smile. “You know, you really do look exceptionally beautiful tonight, Alice,” he said, not taking his eyes off her.
“Oh, John,” she said, her eyes cast downward. “I don’t know what to say.”
“When someone pays you a compliment, a simple ‘thank you’ will usually suffice.”