“Yes.”
“I’m sorry. That sounded unkind.”
“No.”
She took my hand.
“It sounded true.”
Through the window, Adrian said something I could not hear.
Noah laughed.
June watched them for a long time.
Then she leaned back against the chair.
For once, she did not look as though she was waiting for someone to ask her to leave.
At sunset, Adrian helped carry the last chairs into the shed.
When he came back, June was standing beside the kitchen table.
The brass dinner bell sat in the center.
I recognized it immediately.
The same bell from the engagement dinner.
Adrian stopped.
“How did that get here?”
“Mara brought it.”
He looked at me.
I raised both hands.
“She asked.”
June picked it up.
For years, a bell like that had meant work.
Stand.
Fetch.
Clear.
Serve.
She examined the polished handle.
Then rang it once.
A bright little sound filled the cottage.
Everyone looked up.
“Supper tomorrow,” she announced. “Six o’clock. Both of you.”
Noah smiled.
Adrian looked toward him.
Then back at June.
“We’ll be here.”
June nodded, satisfied.
She placed the bell in a drawer and closed it.
Then she took her sons by the hands and walked them to the door.
