“But I do.” He was confident. “Now watch closely,” he said as he brushed at his arms as if he were rolling up both sleeves. “Nothing up either of them. And you said I have magic? So—” He pointed at a nearby dress dummy which had been drapped with a pale yellow scarf. He waggled his fingers at the dummy, then turned to Maria. “My mother. See, she’s coming from the kitchen to say hello. That’s where she is most of the time when she’s home. In the kitchen.”

“She is dressed so elegant for the kitchen,” Maria whispered as if in awe.

“Because I told her you were coming in your white dress.” Standing behind the dummy, Tony moved the figure from side to side. “See, she’s looking you over. Sort of saying to herself… that you’re sort of pretty. A little skinny, but if Tony likes you that way, she does too.”

Maria’s hands outlined a heavy woman. “She is…?”

“She doesn’t mind if you say she’s sort of… well built. Just never say she’s fat.”

“I will not say it,” Maria said as she skipped over to another dress dummy of slenderer proportions. “This is my momma.” She peeked around the dummy to laugh at Tony. “And I take after her.”

“Hello, Mrs. Nunez, My boy Tony has told me all about your daughter. And I must say she’s as nice as he says she is.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Wyzek.” Entered into the spirit of the delightful game, Maria moved her dummy from side to side. “This is my husband, Mr. Nunez.”

“How do you do, Mrs. Wyzek?”

“How do you do, Mr. Nunez? I want to talk to you about my son. You see, he’s really gone—I mean, in love with your daughter. And he would like to talk to you about Maria.”

“First we will talk about Tony,” Maria said. “Does he go to church?”

“He used to. And he will start again.” Tony came from behind the dummy and knelt before it. “May I have your daughter’s hand?”

Maria came slowly out from behind the dummy, for a moment stared anxiously, then clapped her hands. “He says yes! My momma too! Now you ask your mother.”

“I already have.” He reached for Maria’s hand and kissed her fingers. “Right now she’s kissing your cheek.”

“They will want a church wedding.”

“So will my mother,” Tony said. Ruefully, he scratched his head. “I’m gonna have a lot of explaining to do to the father. But when he meets you, he’ll see—”

“Anton…”

“And what I’ll say to you about loving and honoring and holding you until I die, I’ll mean every word of it. So help me, Maria. And it’ll be the easiest thing I’ve ever had to swear to.”

“I love you, Tony. And I want only that you will be happy.”

“We’ll both be happy,” he insisted. “That’s the way it’s gonna be. I swear.”

“Then I swear too.” She kissed him again, even more gently, and stepped back to look at him with smiling eyes and lips. “I’ll wear the white dress,” she said. “And I will be waiting for you to come to my house after you stop the fight.”