You built something, Robert said. Not a question. We're trying to, Malcolm said. Without a blueprint. Without a blueprint, he agreed.
Robert nodded once slowly. The nod of a man who has built things without blueprints and knows exactly what that costs and what it's worth. Okay, he said just that. Okay. Diane looked at her daughter one more time.
Something shifted in her face, the pain moving through and settling into something else. Something that looked eventually like the particular love of a parent who has just watched their child tell a hard truth and is quietly devastated that it was hard and also fiercely proud that it was told. She reached out and took Vanessa's face in her hands, not speaking, just holding her daughter's face. Vanessa's eyes closed for a moment. Then Diane let go, turned to Malcolm, and before he could react, she hugged him the same full two-armed hug from Friday, except now it was different.
It was not the welcome of a woman meeting her daughter's fianceé. It was something else, something without a category yet, but with the specific warmth of something that intended to continue. Clare broke the silence because of course she did. Okay, she said. So, just to make sure I have the timeline right, you've been fake engaged for 48 hours during which you also apparently fell actually in love and your plan is to what?
Just figure it out. Clare, Vanessa said, I'm being supportive. This is me being supportive. She turned to Malcolm. And you?
Are you? Where are you on this? Because I want to hear you say it. Not to her, to me. Malcolm looked at Clare Caldwell at this woman who had been watching him since Friday with the eyes of someone who would not accept a managed answer and said what was true without ornamentation.
I'm not walking back into Monday morning and pretending this was a professional favor. He said Clare looked at him for a long moment. Then she turned to her sister. I like him. She said, I've said it before.
I'll keep saying it. You did extremely good. You're impossible, Vanessa said. And yet here we are. The rest of the farewells happened in the way that end of weekend farewells do in pieces with repeated hugs and promises.
And the particular energy of people who have moved through something together and emerged on the other side changed in ways they haven't fully measured yet. Margaret told Malcolm he was a very interesting young man, which from Margaret was apparently the highest available compliment. Derek shook his hand and said simply, "Good to know you." Which Malcolm meant back. Robert pressed his hand one more time at the car and the pressure said everything the words didn't need to say.