“She’ll marry me. First, her family has money. I do too. Not as much as her father, but I will. She’ll recognize that. Second, she is accustomed to power and position. Marriage to me will give her that, in time. Third, she is from Hamilton. Have you ever known a girl from Hamilton who is happy living anywhere else? Perhaps most important, she’s so stuck up that she has never given any other man the opportunity to marry her, so there is no competition. She’ll want a family, and I will provide it.”
Johnny started to laugh. “I’ve never heard anything so romantic in my life, Bill. I’m sure Katherine will absolutely leap at such an opportunity.”
Bill chuckled. “Of course, I might not present the matter in quite that way, but after a lonely, cold year in New York, working with the trash in that ER, it will be an opportunity that she won’t refuse. Mark my words and note the date. This time next year, the wedding bells will ring.”
***
Katherine and Steven walked toward her apartment, hand-in-hand.
“My roommates are both out of town, otherwise I would introduce you. They are both really curious.” She stopped outside the open door. “Would you like to come in? More coffee?” She turned on the light and closed the door behind them. “It’s kind of messy. Three girls, you know, it’s sort of like college.”
She turned, put her arms around his neck, and pressed her body against his. His hand slipped behind her head and guided her lips to his.
It seemed to Katherine that they were all alone in the universe. All at once, she felt the softness of his lips and the strength in his arms, the pounding of her heart and the trembling of her body. She held him tightly, afraid that if she let go, she would find this to be simply another of her many dreams.
She sighed when he finally released her. His kiss was just as she had imagined it would be.
She took his hand and led him toward the sofa. “Do you remember our first kiss? We were in that old hotel, the one with the slanting floor. I’ve forgotten the name of the village. You could only get a single bed.”
“That’s right. We were back-to-back and you were tugging on the blanket, afraid you were going to fall on the floor.”
“After about fifteen minutes, you turned over and kissed me and—”
“And you did nothing!”
“I was in shock.”
“In shock? Why?”
“That you wanted to kiss me. I knew you liked me, but I thought that you thought I was a dumb blonde who couldn’t manage on my own, who’d latched on to you, and you felt responsible for me for some reason.”
“Projection. You kissed me the second time.”
“And you turned over and went to sleep!”
“It was late!”
“I was falling in love with you. I wanted more than one kiss.”
“You had two.” He leaned forward and stole another kiss, moving away before she could return it. “And now you’ve had two tonight.” He started to step away.
Katherine caught him, and they both laughed.
“Well, I want more than two.” She looked into his eyes, “A lot more than two, tonight.”
Home
Katherine sat in a coffee shop at the airport, waiting for Sara.She sipped her coffee and thought about Steven. She smiled as she fingered her necklace.
As the plane’s arrival was announced, Sara bounded into the terminal. She dashed through the crowd, spotting Katherine before she could raise her arm to wave.
“How was dinner?” she asked, trying to catch her breath.
“Dinner was fine.”
“Fine? Fine? That’s all you can say?” She gave Katherine a knowing look. “That smile tells me it was more than fine.”
Katherine laughed. “I don’t know how to say it.” She took a deep breath. “Dinner was wonderful. It was fabulous, terrific. Steven was handsome and sweet, and better looking than I remembered. Just as nice as I remembered.”
“Slow down.” Sara laughed. “Slow down.”
“Sorry.” Katherine sighed contentedly. “We had a really, really good time—a wonderful time. Just like I had hoped.” She wiped her eyes. “Just like I had dreamed.”
Sara hugged her. “I’m so glad.”
Katherine pointed to her necklace. “See my birthday present?”
“Wow. Tell me more. What is he like?”
“Well, let’s see…” Katherine crossed her arms and looked up, pretending to ponder Sara’s question.
“Katherine!” Sara shook her gently by the shoulder. “Speak!”
“He has a PhD in Art History from Oxford.”
“You’re joking.”
“I’m not.” Katherine shook her head. “He taught there a couple of years. He’s a curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.”
“So much for watercolors in the park.”
Katherine nodded. “Yes, so much for that.” She picked up one of Sara’s carry-on bags.
“He still paints, though,” she added as they began to walk toward the exit, Sara leading the way.
“He offered me a ring.”
Sara stopped and spun around, her eyes wide. “He did what?”
“He offered me a ring.”
“Did you take it?” Sara grabbed Katherine’s left hand and raised it so she could see her finger.
Katherine smiled and shook her head. “We agreed on maybe. Gave ourselves six months.”
“Oh, my gosh. That’s so, so awesome. Have you talked to Becky?”
“She called this afternoon.” Katherine laughed. “I had to hold the telephone away from my ear.”
They left the terminal and found the car. As Sara slid in and closed the door, she glanced at Katherine. “Kiss him goodnight?”
“Once or twice.” Katherine twirled a strand of hair around one finger, grinning. “Once or twice.”
***
On Monday morning, Steven sat at his desk, proofing an essay he had written for the catalog for the exhibition in Richmond. Hearing Martine’s footsteps, he glanced up to find her looking down at him.
“How was dinner, Dr. Richardson?”
“Dinner was fine, Martine.” He looked back at the manuscript and smiled, knowing how curious she must be.
“And Katie Lee Jackson?”
“Katie was good.”
Martine stood in front of Steven’s desk, her hands on her hips, waiting for him to continue.
He looked up again. “Did you need something, Martine?”
“I need to hear more than you are telling! You held hands on the way to her apartment. You kissed her goodnight.”
“Who told you that?”
Martine grinned.
“You look like the Cheshire cat,” Steven grumbled. “You were fishing.”
“And you took the bait.” Again, she waited for Steven to tell her more, but he simply stared at the wall behind her.
“It must have been a good dinner.”
Steven sighed. “Dinner was delicious, of course.” He stopped and looked down at the desk, recalling the evening. “Katie was, well, Katie was just as I remembered her,” he said quietly. He looked up at Martine. “She went to medical school—she’s an ER doctor at St. Vincent’s, and…”
“And you are still in love.” Martine had a satisfied expression on her face.
“We said maybe,” Steven said quietly.
“Maybe? What is maybe? Love is yes or no. Not maybe. Americans are so, so…frustrating!” She walked back toward her desk. “I think it is yes. You will see.”
“Of course it’s yes,” Steven whispered to himself. “Definitely, yes.”
***
Steven hit the button to silence the alarm.
“Four a.m.? I didn’t know there really was a four a.m.,” he mumbled. “I can sleep another two hours.” He sank back into bed and began to relax.
Why did the alarm ring so early? The thought flitted through his mind as he began to drift off.
Suddenly, he sat upright. “It’s Friday,” he said aloud. “I am
going to meet Katie for coffee.” He clamored out of bed, stumbling as he took his first step. He put his hand on the bedside table to steady himself. “Maybe a shower would help.”
He and Katie had talked several times during the week, since their dinner, but she had been working the evening shift at the hospital and they had not been able to see each other. She was flying home to Virginia today, to spend Labor Day weekend, her first trip home since moving to New York in June. Last night she had done a double shift—four p.m. to six a.m. Given their schedules, it had appeared that he would not see her again until the following weekend.
Steven couldn’t believe that, after finally finding her, he would have to wait so long to see her again. He was pleased that he had thought of meeting her before she flew out, even if it meant getting up at this ungodly hour.
He had discovered, as they talked during the week, that she had seen little of New York. She worked all week, of course, and her roommates both had boyfriends, so they were often occupied on weekends. As a result, Katie seldom ventured beyond her neighborhood. Steven had suggested that they could be “tourists.” They could go out together and visit tourist attractions around town. This morning, they were riding to Rockefeller Center to have coffee and watch The Today Show from the plaza outside.
Two hours later, Steven sat on one of the hard, straight chairs in a corner of the hospital’s waiting room, reading the New York Times. He was so engrossed in an article about a forged Monet painting that had hung in a French museum for the past twenty years that he paid little attention to the antiseptic smell of the hospital or the crying baby that lay in its mother’s arms at the other end of the room. The squeaking of shoes caused him to look up.
Steven stood. “Good morning, Katie. How was your night?”
“Quiet for once. No down time, we seldom have that, but there were no crowds, no shouting, no fighting. I wish every day was like last night.”
Steven smiled. “I’m glad everything went well. It’s really good to see you.”
“It’s good to see you, too.” Katie looked around before giving him a quick hug.
Steven folded his newspaper and placed it on the chair, the story of the forged painting forgotten. They left the waiting room and walked toward the staff entrance.
“My mother—almost all of my friends at home—tell me that I shouldn’t work the swing shift. They really think that I shouldn’t be working here,” she gestured at the emergency room, “at all.”
Steven shrugged. “You tell me you enjoy the work. You’re learning a lot. You’re helping a lot of people. It sounds like a good job.” He nodded at the guard as they stepped outside. “You have security. What’s the problem?”
“They think that the work is beneath me.” She squeezed his arm. “Thanks for understanding.”
They arrived at Rockefeller Center well before seven. Even though it was early September, the morning air was cool. The sidewalks were crowded with people wearing dark suits, most of them carrying brief cases. If Katie’s hospital scrubs and running shoes looked out of place, Steven didn’t notice. He was simply happy to be with her again. He put his arm around her and pulled her close to him.
“I wouldn’t want you to get lost in the crowd,” he explained when she looked up at him, smiling.
They sat at the window of the coffee shop, overlooking the plaza, sandwiched between two women who were eating pastries and gulping coffee, their faces buried in the Wall Street Journal. Outside, a crowd began to assemble for the show. A stage had been erected in the plaza and someone well known, judging from the size of the crowd, would be performing.
“We’d better find a place,” Steven said.
They ordered refills and walked out, finding spots next to the rail, near the stage. The plaza filled quickly. Before long, all of the places by the rail had been taken and people were standing two and three deep.
“Are we the only adults here this morning?” Katie asked.
Steven glanced around at the crowd clustered near the stage. The businessmen seemed to have disappeared and he and Katie were almost surrounded by teenagers, mostly girls who seemed to be no older than fourteen or fifteen. Katie looked puzzled when the mother of one of the girls told them the name of the English singing group who would be performing, but Steven nodded. “That explains all of the teenagers,” he whispered.
A camera panned the crowd as the show began.
“Look!” Katie pointed at the camera. “The show is starting!”
The morning’s headlines came first, followed by a break for a commercial. During the break, Katie was chattering away, excited. “I’ve always wanted to do this. We used to turn the television set on early to watch The Today Show, as we got ready for school. I would see all of the people and it seemed so exciting. We all wanted to be on television.”
“But your parents never brought you to New York?”
Katie shook her head. “No, we never made it to New York. No real reason. In fact, the first time I was ever in the city was in June, when I moved. Not counting a stop to change planes a few years ago.”
“You’ve been here all summer and you have never come out to watch the show?”
She cocked her head to one side. “How much sightseeing did you do in Oxford? You were there for several years.”
“None, I guess.” He thought for a second. “Well, I saw most of the buildings and everything that tourists see, but not on purpose, just in the course of living. I suppose your life doesn’t bring you to this part of town.”
“No, it doesn’t. I guess it’s the same way everywhere. You don’t see the sights near your home.”
“We’ll have to change that.”
“Sounds good!” Katie smiled and hugged him.
The commercial was followed by the weather forecast. As the weather map filled the screen, Jane Pauley, the show’s female co-host, walked out onto the plaza and stood directly in front of Katie and Steven. As Lew Wood concluded the forecast, the camera cut to Jane.
“Let’s meet some of the folks who have come out to be with us this morning.” She held out her microphone to Katie. “Tell us your name and where you are from.”
Katie was jumping up and down, and Steven had to answer.
He leaned toward the microphone. “Steven Richardson and Katie Jackson. We both live in New York.”
“Well, it’s good to have neighbors drop by!”
As Jane moved on to the next group, Katie threw her arms around Steven and hugged him. They continued to watch for several minutes, but neither was interested in hearing the concert, so they moved away, giving their places to several teenaged girls.
***
Katherine’s flight arrived in Richmond shortly after noon.
“Mom!” Katherine waved.
“Katherine! How are you, sweetie?” Katherine’s mother, Alice Jackson, met her as she entered the terminal. “It’s so good to see you. So good to finally have you home. Let me look at you.” Her mother stood back and Katherine twirled. “You’re thin. You’re not eating right.”
“Mom, I’m fine. I lost five pounds and I feel terrific.”
“I’ll see what I can do this weekend. I’m thinking that after dinner tonight, the picnic tomorrow, and dinner with Emma on Sunday, well, you’ll be back to normal.”
Katherine smiled and shook her head. “Sounds like a plan, Mom.”
“Luggage?”
“Just my carry-on.”
Her mother looked perplexed. “I don’t see how you young people do it. Once, before we were married, I went to see your father’s family for the weekend. I took two suitcases and a hanging bag and I still was afraid that I had forgotten something.”
“Remember, I went to England for the summer with just a backpack.”
Her mother frowned. “Oh, let’s not talk about that summer. I worried about you the entire time you were gone. Wandering around on your own, with strangers, spending the night who-knows-where.” She shook her head. “I hate to even think about i
t.”
“Everything turned out fine, Mom.”
Her mother did not seem to hear her. “You did seem to have a good time, though. You sent nice postcards. You certainly were smiling and happy when we met you in August.” She turned to greet a friend, then she looked back at Katherine. “It seems like forever since I’ve seen you.”
“Just three months.”
“I know, but you’re so far away in that big, cold city.”
“It hit ninety yesterday.”
“And I worry about you. I can’t wait until you come home to stay.”
“I don’t know if I will be home to stay—”
“Of course you will!”
Katherine rolled her eyes. “Mom, we’ve talked about this.”
Her mother sighed. “I know. Let’s not argue about it now. Let’s just enjoy your visit.”
“That sounds good. Let’s not argue about anything all weekend.”
***
That evening, Katherine glanced around the dining room as they took their places for dinner. Her mother had gone all out. Her sterling silverware beside each plate gleamed, the crystal glasses sparkled, even the chandelier glowed in the soft light. Katherine thought that the room looked as if they were sitting down to Christmas dinner.
Her father and mother sat at the ends of the table, her younger sister, Mary, and her brother, Thomas Junior, sat across from her.
“How are things going, Dad?” Katherine took a chicken breast from the platter that was being passed around the table. “Mom said you were at your office in Richmond today. Not enough crime in Hamilton to keep an attorney busy?”
Her father laughed. “Not much crime in Hamilton. Things are pretty much as they have always been. I’ve actually been spending three days each week in our office in Richmond.”
“I thought Mr. Longstreet still handled the practice in Richmond.”
“Too much work there,” her father replied. “I guess crime is up in Richmond.” He chuckled. “We’re actually hiring an associate to work here, and I’m moving to Richmond almost fulltime.”
The Handfasting Page 5
