“Evenin’ all. Did Maggie tell you that she’s now engaged to my son, Kyle?”

The room once again erupted in chatter and Maggie smiled as she showed off the ring. Kyle gave them all a wave and went back to his book.

They discussed the auction and other Society business and finally adjourned at eight. Kyle accepted hugs and congratulations from everyone and finally reached Maggie and his mother. “You ladies hungry? I’d love to take my two best girls to dinner.”

Maggie froze up. She hadn’t been out of the condo much in the last two weeks. She worried about facing the townspeople.

“Honey, this is your home. People here love you. I’m starving, let’s go to The Sands and get some food,” Polly said gently.

“All right,” Maggie said taking a bracing breath.

It was late enough that the place wasn’t full to the seams with patrons but still had plenty of folks inside. Ronnie Sands, the owner, got them into a booth and squeezed Maggie’s hand. “Hi, honey, good to see you.” She looked down and saw the ring. “Oh my! Is this what I think it is?”

“Ronnie, this lovely woman has agreed to marry me. Am I lucky or what?”

“Isn’t that wonderful! Congratulations you two. When’s the day?”

“He only asked me on Christmas and then…well, anyway. We haven’t even discussed it yet,” Maggie said and Ronnie’s face softened.

“I was hoping that we could do it in late spring,” Kyle said.

“Ooh! Good idea, the weather will be so pretty.” Ronnie grinned and looked to Maggie. “Shall I get you all the usual?”

“Sounds good. Make my fries extra crispy, please.”

“Of course, girl. I’ve been serving you fries for a long time. Be back in a bit with your food and teas.” She winked and headed back to the kitchen.

“Where should we have the ceremony?” Kyle asked.

Maggie narrowed her eyes at Kyle. She did not want to do this with an audience. But he was just so damned excited about it, she couldn’t really be mad at him. “If we do it in late spring, say after Mother’s Day, we could easily do it outside.” Maggie hoped Polly would rein in her impulse to take over.

“Hmm, yes that could be nice. We could do tents for the reception. Where though? We could use the park I suppose.” He had the sense to look a bit chastened as he saw her narrowed eyes.

Oh well, in for a penny, may as well be in for a pound. Maggie took a deep breath. “Or your parents’ back yard. It’s over an acre.” She looked to Polly. “That is, if it would be all right with them.”

“Honey, you’re too good to be true!” Polly exclaimed, clapping her hands.

“But, Momma, remember that this is our wedding, yeah? So we’d love your help and appreciate your advice but Maggie and I need to make a lot of decisions for ourselves.” Kyle squeezed Maggie’s hand beneath the table.

Polly snorted. “Of course! I won’t try and take over.”

It was Maggie’s turn to snort and she tried to pretend she didn’t and Polly just laughed. “Okay, so you know me well, dear heart, but I promise, I do know what it is like to be a bride and I’d never want to take that joy from you. But I do want to tell you that I consider you a daughter. And well, I know that your own momma is a fool so please come to me whenever you need a hand all right?”

“Thanks, Mom, I appreciate that so much.”

“So the Saturday after Mother’s Day at Mom and Dad’s house. We have a date and a place,” Kyle said.

“I’d like to get my dress made, which doesn’t leave much time seeing as how it’s already January. Dee’s mom just finished making her dress and it’s amazing. I wonder if she’d make mine? I’ll have to talk to her about it. We need to talk guest lists and color schemes and flowers and food. We need to deal with the invitations and the rentals for the tents as well. Oh my, so much to do.” Maggie broke out a pad and a pen and Kyle watched smiling as she and his mother started talking all of the details over.

Kyle and his brothers moved all of Maggie’s belongings out of her house and she put it on the market. In the meantime, he and Maggie looked for a place of their own and soon found a four bedroom near the river that they fell in love with.

Maggie went to counseling both alone and with Kyle for a while to deal with what happened with Alex. It helped a great deal.

The invitations went out in March and Alex’s trial approached. Maggie prepared her students for finals and decided on a caterer, she had dress fittings and chose flowers. Kyle converted the first floor bedroom into an office space for both of them. He chose tuxedos with his brothers and asked Shane to be his best man. Maggie asked Edward to walk her down the aisle with her own father. She wanted them both to give her away. Cecelia and Janie were not invited.

The trial happened to fall on the week of spring break so Maggie planned to be there every day. Kyle also took time off and the entire Chase clan and Tom Wright were there to support her although Maggie couldn’t attend until after she testified, the same with the others.

Testifying was awful. It was fine when the prosecution was examining her but when Alex’s attorney got up it was just horrible. He tried to twist her words, to make it seem like she’d led Alex on and that she’d run away with him on her own instead of being kidnapped. He also tried to make it seem like the bruises were due to rough sex and not assault. Thank goodness Edward and Peter had helped her by doing a little role play and showing her what it would be like before the trial. She managed to keep on task and to not let herself get too riled up. The other women that Alex had stalked when he was a student at the University of Georgia testified to his behavior.