“I do!” Abigail said defensively while adding some cheese and crackers to the to-go bag, along with hand-sanitizing wipes and napkins. She hoped to God they snacked at the station and not on the train itself. “It seems so sudden, that’s all.”

“We’ve been dating since last September. Weren’t you and Dad engaged in less than a year?”

Busted. “Yes, but we were a little older and had been in the same circle. Penny is someone out of the blue.”

Chase cocked his head. “What does that mean?”

Abigail wasn’t going to back down or be ashamed. She wanted to stand up for her people. “There are so many nice girls here in Fair Harbor. I assumed you’d settle down with someone we knew. Get married at the club.”

“Mom, I haven’t dated someone you knew since sophomore year in high school when you forced me to take Molly Yang to Cotillion.”

“She’s a lovely girl. She’s a nurse at my dermatologist office. Gorgeous complexion,” Abigail added in case there was a slight chance Chase would change his mind in exchange for free skin care products. “Penny is lovely. I just worry, you know.”

“About what?”

Abigail dropped her voice to a stage whisper. “About the no-father thing.”

Chase barked a laugh. “First of all, you know that’s medically impossible, right? And second, she doesn’t worry about it. Her mother is very proud of the fact that she is a single mother by choice. So is Penny. I wouldn’t mention it when you meet her mom in a few weeks. We’re going to arrange a dinner in the city. Try not to be a snob. It’s that DAR thing with you, isn’t it?”

“I’m very proud to be a Daughter of the American Revolution. As proud as Penny’s mom is of her status.” Indeed, Abigail Ellsworth Blakeman was prouder, there could be no doubt. She had a direct relative on her father’s side, Oliver Ellsworth, a founding father of Connecticut and a signer of the Constitution. She had the family Bible and reams of verified genealogy to prove it. On her mother’s side, she was related to an eighteenth-century Hartford seamstress and a shop owner, a couple she wished had had the good sense to acquire real estate or master the printing press when they’d had the chance so there would be some serious generational wealth, instead of only the appearance of generational wealth.

The point was that her lifelong membership in DAR came with deep roots and satisfaction. Some women could play tennis. Other women had great fashion sense. For Abigail, she had her connection to the Revolutionary War and that was enough. “I worry that you don’t know what you’re getting into genetically, that’s all.”