Tender Triumph

by Judith McNaught

  "Well," Katie shot back mutinously, "they didn't happen to fall into a pile of manure, get bit­ten by a goose, or kicked by a blind horse, either!" Turning swiftly to Ramon to try to defend herself, Katie was amazed to find him looking down at her with a crooked grin.

  "You're laughing now, Galverra," Mr. Connelly said angrily, "but you won't be laughing when you discover that Katie's idea of living within a strict budget is spending everything she makes and charg­ing anything else she wants to my account. She can't cook anything that doesn't come in a bag, box or can; she doesn't know which end of a needle to thread; she—"

  "Ryan, you are exaggerating!" Mrs. Connelly unexpectedly intervened. "Katie has lived on her own income since the day she graduated from col­lege, and she does know how to sew."

  Ryan Connelly looked ready to explode. "She does petitpoint or some damn thing like that. And not well! I still don't know whether that thing she did for us is supposed to be a fish or an owl, and neither do you!"

  Katie's shoulders began to shake with helpless mirth. "It's a—a mushroom," she croaked, turning into Ramon's willing arms and dissolving with laughter. "I—I made it when I was fourteen." Wip­ing at her tears of hilarity, she leaned back in Ramon's embrace and raised her sparkling eyes to his. "Do you know—I thought they were going to think you weren't good enough for me."

  "What we think," Ryan Connelly snapped, "is—"

  "Is that Katie is ill-equipped for the kind of life she would have to lead with you, Mr. Galverra," Mrs. Connelly interrupted her husband's outburst. "Katie's 'working' experience has been at college and in her job, the sort of work that is done with the mind, not the hands and back. She graduated with high honors from college, and I know how hard she works at the job she has. But Katie has absolutely no experience with backbreaking physical labor."

  "Nor will she have, being married to me," Ra­mon replied.

  Ryan Connelly was evidently finished with trying to be reasonable. He jerked to his feet, took two long furious strides, then swung around glaring at Ramon with anger emanating from every pore. "I misjudged you the other day at our house, Galverra. I thought to myself that there was pride in you, and honor, but I was wrong."

  Beside her, Katie felt Ramon go absolutely rigid as her father continued his blistering tirade. "Oh, I knew you were poor—you said as much, but still I gave you credit for having some decency. Yet you stand here and tell us that although you can offer her nothing, you are going to take our daughter from us, take her from everything she knows, take her from her family, her friends—I ask you, is this the action of a decent honorable man? You answer me that, if you dare.''

  Katie, about to intercede, took one look at Ra­mon's murderous expression and stepped back. In a low, terrible voice, he drawled contemptuously, "I would take Katie away from my own brother! Is that answer enough for you?"

  "Yes, by God, it's enough! It tells me what kind of—"

  "Sit down, Ryan," Mrs. Connelly said sharply. "Katie, you and Ramon go into the kitchen and fix our drinks. I would like to speak to your father pri­vately."

  Shamelessly eavesdropping in the doorway while Ramon fixed the drinks, Katie watched her mother walk over to her father and put her hand on his arm. "We've lost the battle, Ryan, and you're antagoniz­ing the victor. That man is trying very hard not to fight you, yet you're deliberately backing him into a corner until he has no choice but to retaliate."

  "He's not the victor yet, dammit! Not till Katie gets on that plane with him. Until then, he's the enemy, but he's no victor."

  Mrs. Connelly smiled gently. "He's no enemy of ours. At least, he's no enemy of mine. He hasn't been since the moment he looked at you and told you that Katie will live every day of her life knowing that she is loved."

  "Words! Nothing but words!"

  "Spoken to us, Ryan. Spoken sincerely and with­out embarrassment to Katie's parents—not whis­pered to her in some heated moment. I can't even think of a man who would say a thing like that to a girl's parents. He'll never let her be hurt. He won't be able to give her the material things, but he'll give her everything in life that really matters. I know he will. Now give in gracefully, or you'll lose even more." When her husband looked away from her, she touched his face, turning it toward her.

  His deep blue eyes, so like Katie's, were suspi­ciously moist. "Ryan," she said softly, "It's not really the man himself that you object to, is it?"

  He sighed, a deep ragged sigh. "No," he said in a hoarse voice. "It's not the man, not really. It's just that I—I don't want him to take my Katie away. She's always been my favorite, you know that, Rosemary. She was the only one of our children who ever gave a damn about me; the only one who ever saw me as something beside an open wallet; the only one who ever noticed when I was tired or worried and tried to cheer me up." He drew a long, labored breath. "Katie's been like a ray of sunlight in my life, and if he takes her away, I won't be able to see my Katie shine anymore."

  Katie, unaware that Ramon had come to stand be­hind her, leaned her head against the doorframe, tears streaming unchecked down her cheeks.

  Tipping up his wife's chin, Ryan took out his handkerchief and dabbed at the tears on her face. Mrs. Connelly managed a smile. "We should have expected this.. .it's exactly the sort of thing Katie would do. She was always so full of joy and love, so ready to give of herself. She always befriended the child no one would play with, and there was never a stray dog that Katie didn't fall in love with. Until now, I thought David had destroyed that beautiful, giving part of her, and I've hated him for it.. .but he didn't." Tears spilled over her lashes, glittering on her cheeks. "Oh, Ryan, don't you see—Katie's found another stray she loves."

  "The last one bit her," Ryan chuckled sadly.

  "This one won't," his wife said. "He'll protect her."

  Holding his tearful wife in his arms, Ryan glanced across the room and saw that Katie was likewise crying in Ramon's arms, his handkerchief clutched in her hand. With a fleeting smile of conciliation at the tall man who held his daughter so protectively close, Ryan said, "Ramon, do you have a spare handker­chief?"

  The brief flash of Ramon's smile accepted the truce. "For the women, or for us?"

  When her parents left, Ramon asked to use the telephone and Katie went out to the patio so that he could have privacy to make his call. She wandered around, absently touching the plants growing in huge redwood containers, then perched a hip on the back of one of the lounge chairs, gazing up at the stars spilling like diamonds across the sky.

  Ramon came to the open glass door and stopped, arrested by the sheer beauty of the picture she made. Lamplight from within the apartment silhouetted her against the black velvet night. With her hair fall­ing in a loose, glorious tumble down her shoulders, there was a lush ripeness in her profile, combined with a quiet pride in the tilt of her chin that added to her allure, making her seem at once provocative and elusive.

  Sensing his presence, Katie turned her head slight­ly. "Is something wrong?" she asked, thinking of his phone call.

  "Yes," he said with tender gravity. "I am afraid that if I come any closer I will discover that you are only a dream."

  A smile that was sweet yet sensual touched Katie's lips. "I'm very real."

  "Angels are not real. No man can expect to reach out and take an angel in his arms.''

  Her smile widened delightfully. "When you kiss me, my thoughts are anything but angelic."

  Stepping onto the patio he crossed to her, his eyes looking deeply into hers. "And what are your thoughts when you sit alone out here gazing up at the sky like a goddess worshiping the stars?"

  Just the timbre of his deep quiet voice stirred Katie; yet now that she had committed herself to him she felt a peculiar shyness. "I was thinking how unbelievable it is that in just seven days my entire life has changed. No, not seven days, seven seconds. The moment you asked me for directions, my whole life veered onto a different course. I keep wondering what would have happened if I had walked down that hall five
minutes later."

  Ramon drew her gently to her feet. "Do you not believe in fate, Katie?"

  "Only when things go wrong."

  "And when they go beautifully?"

  Katie's eyes danced. "Then, it's because of my clever planning and hard work."

  "Thank you," he said with a boyish grin.

  "For what?"

  "For all of the times in the last seven days that you have made me smile." His lips covered hers in a warm, sweet kiss.

  Katie realized that he had no intention of making love to her tonight, and she was grateful and touched by his restraint. She was emotionally spent and physically exhausted.

  "What are your plans for tomorrow?" she asked a few minutes later, when he was leaving.

  "My time is yours," Ramon said. "I had intend­ed to leave for Puerto Rico tomorrow. Since we will not be leaving until Sunday, the only commitment I have here is to breakfast with your father in the morning."

  "Would you like to take me to work tomorrow morning before you meet him?" Katie asked. "It will give us some time together and you could pick me up afterward."

  Ramon's arms tightened around her. "Yes," he whispered.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Katie sat at her desk idly rolling her pen between her fingers. Virginia was attending the Friday morn­ing operations meeting, which gave Katie until ten-thirty to make up her mind. An hour and a half to decide whether to resign her job or request two weeks' vacation and two additional weeks' leave of absence without pay.

  She knew what Ramon wanted—no, expected— her to do. He expected her to resign, to make the break and sever all ties. If she merely requested a month off instead of resigning, he would feel that she was not committing herself wholeheartedly to him, that she was keeping an avenue of escape open to her.

  Her mind drifted back to the way Ramon had looked at her this morning when he arrived to take her to work. His dark eyes had studied her face with piercing intensity. "Have you changed your mind?" he had asked, and when Katie replied that she hadn't, he had gathered her into his arms and kissed her with a mixture of violent sweetness and pro­found relief.

  Each moment she spent with Ramon she grew closer to him emotionally. Her heart, for whatever reasons, kept telling her that he was right for her, that what she was doing was right. Her mind, how­ever, was screaming warnings at her. It told her this was happening too fast, too soon, and worse, kept tormenting her that Ramon was not what he seemed to be, that he was hiding something from her.

  Katie's blue eyes clouded. This morning he had arrived wearing a beautiful loose-sleeved gold golf sweater. Twice before he had worn well-tailored business suits. It seemed so peculiar that a farmer, particularly an impoverished one, would own such clothes that Katie had bluntly asked him about it.

  Ramon had smilingly informed her that farmers owned suits and sweaters just like other men. Katie had tentatively accepted that answer, but when she tried to find out more about him, he had evaded her questions by saying, "Katie, you will have many questions about me and about your future, but the answers are all in Puerto Rico."

  Leaning back in her chair, Katie somberly watched the controlled bustle of activity in the per­sonnel reception area where applicants were filling out forms, taking tests and waiting to see Katie or one of her five male counterparts who all reported to Ginny.

  Perhaps she was wrong to be uneasy about Ra­mon. Perhaps he wasn't being deliberately evasive. Perhaps this niggling, persistent fear was simply the result of her gruesome experience with marriage to David Caldwell.

  Then again, maybe it wasn't. She would have to find out in Puerto Rico, but until all her fears were resolved, she could not risk resigning her job. If she did resign today she would be resigning without no­tice. If she resigned without notice, she would not be eligible for rehire at Technical Dynamics, nor would she get a good reference from them if she tried to go to work for another employer. Besides, Virginia would look like an absolute fool when she had to ex­plain to the vice-president of operations, who had just approved Katie's enormous raise that Katie, Virginia’s own protegee, had resigned without no­tice — like the most irresponsible transient who swept the floors.

  Katie stood up, absently ran a smoothing hand over her elegant chignon, and walked out into the reception area, past Donna and the two other secre­taries who worked in personnel. Going into one of the cubicles where typing tests were given, she rolled a clean sheet of paper into the electric typewriter and stared at it, her hands poised indecisively over the keys, Ramon was expecting her to resign. He had said he loved her. Equally as important, Katie sensed in­stinctively that he needed her; he needed her very much. She felt disloyal merely taking a month off. She considered lying to him about it, but honesty mattered very much to Ramon and it was something that mattered a great deal to Katie, too. She didn't want to lie to him. On the other hand, after she had agreed last night to go to Puerto Rico and marry him, she couldn't imagine how to explain her doubts and misgivings this morning. She wasn't even cer­tain it would be wise to tell him how she felt yet. If she had told David that she suspected some hidden side to his character, he would have gone out of his way to conceal it and convince her otherwise. It seemed far better to simply go to Puerto Rico and give herself time to know Ramon better. With time, her doubts would either be resolved or her suspi­cions would be confirmed.

  Sighing, Katie tried to think of a better excuse to give Ramon for her decision not to resign. It came to her in a flash of inspiration. It was the truth; it re­lieved all her feelings of disloyalty to Ramon, and it was something she would be able to make him understand. It was so obvious that Katie was amazed she had even considered resigning without notice.

  Quickly and efficiently she typed out a formal re­quest to Virginia for two weeks' vacation beginning the next day, followed by two weeks' leave of absence without pay. Tonight she would simply ex­plain to Ramon that she could not possibly have resigned without notice in order to get married. Men did not resign without notice to get married, and if Katie did it would reflect badly on all the other women who were struggling so desperately for an equal opportunity to obtain positions in manage­ment. One of the most frequent arguments against hiring a woman in a management position was that they quit to get married or to have babies or to follow their husband when he was transferred. The director of operations was a closet male chauvinist. If Katie resigned without notice to get married, he would never let poor Virginia forget it, and he'd find some legally acceptable reason to disqualify any other female candidate Virginia wanted to hire for Katie's job. If, on the other hand, Katie resigned while on vacation in Puerto Rico, the two weeks re­maining to her as leave of absence would constitute two weeks' notice. That meant she would have only two weeks to resolve her fear about marrying Ramon.

  Nevertheless, Katie felt tremendously relieved. Now that she'd thought about it rationally, she decid­ed that when and if she did resign while in Puerto Rico, she would not say that she was doing so to get married. She would say what men always said: she was resigning "to accept a better position."

  Having decided that, Katie wound another sheet of paper into the typewriter, and dating it two weeks hence, formally resigned in order to accept a better position.

  It was nearly eleven-thirty before Katie was finished with the applicants she was scheduled to interview. Picking up her vacation request and her postdated resignation, she walked into Virginia's of­fice, then hesitated.

  Virginia was engrossed in recording figures on a huge ledger sheet, her dark head of short-cropped hair bent over the task. She looked, as she always did, businesslike and feminine. The Dainty Dynamo, Katie thought with affection.

  Straightening her navy blazer and smoothing the pleats of her red-and-blue-plaid skirt, Katie plunged in. "Ginny, can you spare me a few minutes?" she asked nervously, using the nickname she ordinarily used only after business hours.

  "If it's not urgent, give me half an hour to finish this report first," Ginny repl
ied without looking up.

  With each second Katie's tension was mounting. She didn't think she could last another half hour. "It—it's rather important."

  At the shakiness in Katie's voice, Ginny quickly raised her head. Very slowly, she laid her pen on the desk and watched Katie approach, her forehead creased with puzzled concern.

  Now that the time had come, Katie couldn't think how to begin. She handed Virginia her vacation-leave-of-absence request.

  Virginia scanned it, the vague alarm clearing from her forehead. "It's short notice to request a month off," Ginny said, laying the paper aside. "But you're entitled to the vacation, so I'll approve it. Why are you also requesting two weeks' leave of absence?"

  Katie sank into the chair in front of Virginia's desk. "I want to go to Puerto Rico with Ramon. While I'm there I'll decide whether or not to marry him. In case I do decide to do that—here's my resig­nation. The two weeks' leave of absence can serve as my notice, that is, if you'll let me do it that way."

  Virginia sank back in her chair and stared at Katie in astonishment. "Who?" she said.

  "The man we talked about on Wednesday." When Virginia continued to stare at her incredulous­ly, Katie explained, "Ramon has a small farm in Puerto Rico. He wants me to marry him and live there."

  Virginia said "My God."

  Katie, who had never seen Virginia like this, add­ed helpfully, "He's Spanish, actually."

  Virginia said "My God" again.

  "Ginny!" Katie implored desperately. "I know this is sudden, but it's not that unbelievable. It's—"

  "Insane," Virginia announced flatly, at last re­covering her brisk composure. She shook her head as if to clear it. "Katie, when you mentioned this man two days ago I imagined him as not only hand­some, but having a style and sophistication to match yours. Now you tell me that he's a Puerto Rican farmer, and you're going to be his wife?"