With reluctance, he nodded his head once. "Okay. Okay. We can do that. I'll meet you downstairs." He walked quickly, hurrying out of the room before his father could say anything else. His heart was pounding in his chest and his hands were shaking violently. His mind raced with thoughts of everything that was going to happen. What could possibly be so important that it had to happen now? Was he really going to let this discussion take place in front of everyone? What if something went wrong? He wasn't sure how he was going to explain this.

Once he reached the bottom of the stairs, he took a minute...