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Show house/ 423 iy stained p i l l o w c a s e s . She knew i t was s e r i o u s , and r e a l ly lidn't need a diamond r i n g to prove i t . Xi ^mwMHHi r The prospect of a f u l l y - p r e p a r e d Thanksgiving dinner brought i current of r e l i e f . Brian would discover some things about me a f t e r we were married. And I had my engagement ring to show off. I imagined f l a s h i n g i t before my admiring family. It would be my c o n v e r s a t i o n - p i e c e , my Liahona compass to guide me across the oceans of s i l e n c e t h a t had 'A between me and my family. "I have a s u r p r i s e , " I t o l d my mother. "Oh? What i s i t ? " My mother l i k e s only the s u r p r i s es she has been prepared for. She's had too many of the other kind. "You'll find out." There was apprehension i n her voice. "Will your daddy be pleased?" "Oh! W e l l . . . I guess s o ." Thinking about this created another tension so that I began to feel psychologically drawn and quartered. The problem here was dual: two poles, with me stretched between them. First, there was the matter of introducing Brian to my father. Questions flashed. Would my father be gracious, shake Brian's hand and offer him a chair? Or would he stare gloomily and comment on my 'bright new penney' as he had done with Jake and Maria? And then there was the matter of introducing my family to firian, an overwhelming consideration. I hung up the phone and sighed, pushing my misgivings to the back of my mind like the molding pizza in the rear refrigerator tray. |