..."Announce that we're engaged?" Candy's eyes rounded in surprise. They were sitting at the roots of Father Tree again, and Neil was nervously plucking the grass around him.
"Of course! If people want to get married, they must announce their engagement."
They kept silent. Then the girl said in a dreamy way:
"You know, I... I'd like it to be just the two of us. Without all the fuss and clamor."
Neil held Candy closer by the shoulders.
"I also thought about it. We could run away to a paradise island, or a small church and then come back to Chicago and say: "We are husband and wife!". But now I think it would be wrong. Depriving our friends and relatives of this feast would be wrong."
Miss White raised her eyebrows:
"So I can invite Miss Pony and Sister Lane? And the kids?"
"Sure thing! It's your engagement. Our engagement," Neil laughed, but then knit his brows. "And we'll also have to invite all the relatives and friends."
Candy sighed. She thought about Elisa, Madam Elroy, Mrs. Legan. And Archie.
"We will fulfill the decencies from our part, and whether to come or not is just their business. I'm not going to hide and get married secretly, like some couples in Gretna Green. Everyone must reckon with our choice and our future family."
"You're right," Candy plucked a bunch of herbs, too. "The sooner they get used to the idea of us being together, the better."
The girl put out her left arm to feast her eyes upon the gleaming gem.
"Are you sure it's better to announce the engagement now? When... Annie and Archie have had a fight?"
"Listen, Candy, if we're going to wait until they reconcile, until Elise gets married, until the old maid from Street 59 finds her fortune, I'm afraid we'll never make it to our wedding!" Legan snorted. "They have nothing to do with it. This is our business, our life. If they can't be happy for you, then they're not quite good friends!"
He was right again. Candy closed her eyes and just enjoyed the closeness of her darling, his warmth. Why doesn't she let her friends be happy for her? Don't they wish her happiness?
...A week at Pony's Home went very quickly. Neil came every day, and Miss White got happier. Close people, fresh air, scheduled food, no tears or stress made her body and soul stronger.
She raced with the kids, climbed the tree, sometimes slept and ate as much as she wanted. But by the end of the week the girl had started to miss her favorite work and the patients, whom she had left behind in Chicago.
...And finally - the first working day! Candy returned to work with enthusiasm, cheerfully running along the corridors, rattling with trolleys filled with breakfasts and pills.
Still, her mind was absent. Miss White just couldn't help it. Today she had to give the engagement invitations to Annie and Archie and send one to Patty. What is going to happen? Why is she so worried? Should she write to Mr. Albert? So many questions!
Boy, why can't everyone be happy? How is Annie going to react to Candy's marriage? She who wanted to be with Archie so much, to be a wife, a real housewife... She who has everything for it, absolutely everything! And this fool Archie ruins everything, why is he like this? Why is he being so rude? If only she could knock some sense into his head! How great would it be to have Annie's engagement at first, and only then – Candy's. She wouldn't be distressed for her girlfriend, and Annie would be happy... But yeah, who knows how much they have to wait...
BANG!
A vial with an expensive drug smashed into pieces - it had simply slipped out of Candy's suddenly weakened hands... And, as ill luck would have it, Doctor Leonard was just walking along the corridor!
"Doctor Leonard, I..."
"Come to my office, Candice," he uttered and kept on walking without turning to her. Candy drooped her head. Clumsy, that's right! They called her clumsy, and clumsy she was!