The Promise Read Free

chose Rhett Butler and Scarlett O'Hara. And strangely enough, they didn't even look foolish in the picture. Nancy looked beautiful over the elaborately painted costume. The delicate beauty of her face and the precision of its features were perfect with the immensely feminine costume of the Southern belle. And Michael looked like a young rake. The photographer handed them their photograph and collected his dollar.
    “I ought to keep that, you two look so good.”
    “Thank you.” Nancy was touched by the compliment, but Mike only smiled. He was always so damned proud of her. Just another two weeks and. … but Nancy's frantic tugging on his sleeve distracted him from his daydreams. “Look, over there! A ring toss!” She had always wanted to play that at the fair when she was a little girl, but the nuns from the orphanage always said it was too expensive. “Can we?”
    “But of course, my dear.” He swept her a low bow, offered her his arm, and attempted to stroll toward the ring toss, but Nancy was far too excited to stroll. She was almost leaping like a child, and her excitement delighted him.
    “Can we do it now?”
    “Sure, sweetheart” He put down a dollar and the man at the counter handed her four times the usual allotment of rings. Most customers only paid a quarter. But she was inexperienced at the game, and all her tries fell wide. Michael was watching her with amusement “Just exactly which prize are you trying for?”
    “The beads.” Her eyes shone like a child's and her words were barely more than a whisper. “I've never had a gaudy necklace before.” It was the one thing she had always wanted as a child. Something bright and shiny and frivolous.
    “You're certainly easy to please, my love. You sure you wouldn't rather have the pink doggie?” It was just like the one Jeannette had had in her basket, but Nancy shook her head determinedly.
    “The beads.”
    “Your wish is my command” And he landed all three tosses perfectly on target. With a smile, the man behind the counter handed him the beads, and Michael quickly put them around Nancy's neck. “Voilà, made-moiselle. All yours. Do you suppose we should insure them?”
    “Will you stop making fun of my beads? I think they're gorgeous.” She touched them softly, enchanted to know they were sparkling at her neck.
    “I think you're gorgeous. Anything else your heart desires?”
    She grinned at him. “More cotton candy.”
    He bought her another stick of cotton candy, and they slowly wended their way back to the bikes.
    “Tired?”
    “Not really.”
    “Want to go on a little further? There's a lovely spot up ahead. We could sit for a while and watch the surf.”
    “It sounds perfect.”
    They rode off again, but this time more quietly. The carnival atmosphere was gone, and they were both lost in their own thoughts, mostly of each other. Michael was beginning to wish they were back in bed, and Nancy wouldn't have disagreed. They were nearing Nahant when she saw the spot he had chosen at the tip of a land spit, under a lovely old tree, and she was glad they had come this last leg of the trip.
    “Oh Michael, it's beautiful.”
    “It is, isn't it?” They sat down on a soft patch of grass, just before the narrow lip of sand began, and in the distance they watched long smooth waves break over a reef that lay just beneath the surface of the water. “I've always wanted to bring you here.”
    “I'm glad you did.” They sat silently, holding hands, and then Nancy suddenly stood up.
    “What's up?”
    “I want to do something.”
    “Over there, behind the bushes.”
    “No, you creep. Not that.” She was already running toward a spot on the beach, and slowly he followed her, wondering what she had in mind. She stopped at a large rock and tried earnestly to move it, with no success.
    “Here, silly, let me help you with that. What do you want to do with it?” He was puzzled.
    “I just want to move it for a second … there.” It had given