We were sitting in the snug confines of the Cottage and I was still processing what he had said. Mom was engaged?

"Are you sure, Ben?" I asked. We were in public and I'd noticed a few glances my way while we were sitting. So we were back to being Ben and Ashley.

"As I said the last half dozen times, I didn't see the ring, but I felt it and judging by her reaction, I'll be astonished if she wasn't."

I didn't understand my mother, and that understanding got less and less the older I got. Why wouldn't she tell me she was engaged? It's not like I was...