Elizabeth's Daughter (15 page)

  “Uncle Beetie, that’s me,” Peter said quietly.

  “That’s right!” Elizabeth said cheerfully, opening Tony’s office door and edging back to her desk.

  After Peter left, Elizabeth was surprised to feel a sense of loss. Then she realized that no matter what she wanted to believe, Tony would never let Peter have the same place in her life that he had, until now, occupied, never mind that it was entirely platonic. Peter must have realized that immediately, which was why he became so quiet.

  She couldn’t deny that she’d miss Peter’s friendship. But Amy’s welfare came first.

  She left the office at four. Tony had not come back, but he’d called and made arrangements to take her out to dinner. She wanted to get home and tell Gail everything before Tony arrived.

  Gail and Amy were playing with blocks strewn all over the living room floor when Elizabeth got home.

  “Oh-oh!” Gail said. “Caught in the act! You’re early. I intended to have this place cleaned up before you got here.”

  “That’s okay,” Elizabeth picked her way among the blocks and swooped Amy up, Amy giggling. “I have big news.”

  “Big,
happy
news, apparently,” Gail observed, picking blocks up.

  “Don’t do that right now. Undivided attention, please!”

  “I can pick up blocks and listen,” Gail said, continuing to clean up.

  “Okay,” Elizabeth said. “I’m getting married.”

  Gail stopped picking up blocks. “
WHAT?!
”

  “I thought you could listen and work.”

  “But did I hear what I thought I heard?”

  “If you heard me say I’m getting married, you heard correctly.”

  “To whom? Peter! He called this morning, but I told him you’d already gone to work.”

  “No, not Peter. You just can’t let go of that notion, can you?”

  “Not readily.”

  “Tony, of course.”

  “Oh.”

  “ ‘Oh’? Thanks, Gail. How about ‘that’s great’?”

  “Well, certainly I hope you’ll be very happy.” Gail became quiet.

  “We’ll
all
be very happy. Just because you like Peter better than Tony doesn’t mean he’s someone I should marry, now does it?

  “If you’d seen how sensitive and responsive Tony was this morning, I know your opinion of him would change. I had no intention of telling him anything about the situation with Amy. But he insisted. He took me into his office and got the whole story out of me. He was so sweet and so romantic.” Elizabeth stood cuddling Amy. “He said he’d been wanting to get closer to me, he said that, although asking me to marry him was very sudden, he has wanted to for awhile.

  “Oh, come on Gail,” Elizabeth coaxed, “be happy for me! He may not be as verbal as Peter, but he is sweet and caring in his own way. Give us all a chance, Gail. Be on my side.”

  Gail shook her head. “It’s not part of my job specification to approve or disapprove people’s marital partners. Although I can’t help how I feel. I wonder what Peter will have to say about this?”

  “He came in this afternoon and I told him. He was shocked, he seemed depressed, sort of, too. But I realized that was because he understood more quickly than I did that our friendship will change, of course. I’m sorry about that too. But Amy comes first. Don’t you, Baby-face?” Elizabeth snuggled Amy close to her. “Just think, Gail, we’re bound to succeed in adopting Amy now.”

  “And that’s the reason you’re marrying Tony.”

  “You and Peter own the same recording, I see,” Elizabeth said. “As I told Peter, I never had an idea that Tony wanted to marry me. But of course that’s not the only reason I’m marrying Tony. We’ve been dating since we met. He’s so sweet when he lets his guard down.  And... well, he needs me more than Peter needs me, even if Peter were interested in me in that way, which he’s not. Peter is so secure, so sure of himself. Tony, for all his cool facade, is fragile and needs love and attention.”

  “Maybe Peter is strong and would make a much better life-partner than Tony who is selfish and demanding,” Gail observed. “I don’t care how gorgeous Tony is,
I
wouldn’t marry him.”

  “Lucky you!” Elizabeth exclaimed. “You don’t have to, I am. But you’re still leaving out one fairly significant point. Tony asked me to marry him. Peter didn’t.”

  Gail nodded. “That’s true.”

  “So please, please like him. I want us to live in harmony.”

  “I do too, of course,” Gail agreed. “I have every intention of keeping disharmony as far from me as possible.”

  “Good! Tony’s taking me out to dinner tonight, we have to get all the details worked out. So I hope you don’t mind if I abandon you two to get ready.”

  “Go, Sleeping Beauty, leave us to our blocks, we’re fine. Aren’t we, Amy-Pet?”

  “Hah!” Amy agreed, as Elizabeth handed her back to Gail.

  Running upstairs she wondered why Gail called her Sleeping Beauty. She’d have to remember to ask later.

  When Tony came that evening, he had two bouquets of flowers, one for Elizabeth and one for Gail. He was polite and quiet and went out of his way to make conversation with Gail. As Elizabeth came down the stairs, she winked at Gail as if to say, “see how good he can be?”

  “Has Elizabeth told you the big news?” Tony asked Gail when Elizabeth came up alongside him.

  “Yes. But it still hasn’t quite sunken in yet.”

  Tony laughed congenially, flashing his brilliant teeth. “I guess we all feel that way!” He turned to Elizabeth. “You look lovely, my dear.”

  “Thanks, Tony.” She’d worn another of her mother’s outfits, a dark blue velvet dress with a fitted bodice and gored skirt and a wide off-white lace collar.

  “Shall we go?” he asked.

  Elizabeth nodded. “Don’t wait up for us,” she called to Gail as they went out the door.

*     *

The next morning, actually, it was almost noon, Elizabeth dragged herself downstairs and joined Gail and Amy, who were playing out on the patio.

  “Good morning you two,” she called cheerily, pulling her bathrobe tight around her.

  “Good afternoon,” Gail answered.

  “Bet!” Amy exclaimed.

  “Amy!” Elizabeth answered.

  “So... tell me everything,” Gail insisted.

  Elizabeth held up her ring finger. “Can you believe he actually ran out and bought a diamond yesterday afternoon?”

  “Kinda small,” Gail appraised.

  “I didn’t expect
anything
on such short notice. And I’ll bet you wouldn’t be so critical if Peter had given it to me.”

  “Peter wouldn’t give you such a microscopic stone.”

  “Please, Gail stop criticizing my ring,” Elizabeth said, walking to the edge of the patio, facing the lake, with her back to Gail. “Please stop trying to take the energy out of my happiness. What’s the matter with you, anyway?”

  “I’m sorry, Lizzie,” Gail apologized, sounding sincerely contrite. “You’re right, it’s rude to criticize someone’s engagement ring. If you’re really happy, then of course I’m happy for you.”

  “Well, I
am
happy. Elated. Except that you’re making me very worried about how we will all live together in peace under one roof if you’re so completely unable to approve of Tony.”

  “I’ll adjust.”

  “You’d better step up your clock,” Elizabeth turned to face Gail. “We’re getting married next Saturday, and we’re asking you and Peter to be our as witnesses.”

  “Next Saturday!” Gail jumped to her feet. “Are you... are you absolutely certain you want to move that fast?”

  “Of course. As long as we’ve agreed to marry, it may as well be right away.”

  Gail shook her head. “Okay, I won’t say anything more, I hope, after this. But I would be irresponsible if I didn’t say that my instincts and experience tell me this is not a wise decision, although I’ll support you as much as I can. Now I’ve said it, and I’m done. So! I guess I’ll have to adjust rather quickly.”

  “Please do,” Elizabeth nodded. “Now let me change the subject.”

  “Okay.”

  “Why did you call me ‘Sleeping Beauty’ last night?”

  “Because the true prince hasn’t kissed you yet.”

  Elizabeth laughed. “Really, Gail, you’re
too
romantic. If my true prince hasn’t kissed me yet, well then, I guess he just isn’t going to. But let me tell you about last evening....”

  “Wait!” Gail interjected. “Amy will be in the hospital. How can you get married with Amy in the hospital?”

  “I’ve thought it all through, and I realized it’s the
best
time. When she comes back on Monday, Tony will be moved in and everything will be home-like for her. There’ll be three of us to take care of her and to love her. When Mrs. Vargas comes over, she’ll see the perfect environment for Amy to be adopted into. Tony and I discussed all of this last night.”

  “Maybe I’ve misjudged him. I hope I’ve misjudged him.”

  Elizabeth grinned from ear to ear. “Now,
those
are the words I’ve been waiting to hear!” The phone rang and she dashed inside to get it. She saw Peter’s number on the caller ID.  “Hi Peter.”

  There was a long pause at the other end, and a sort of crackling on the line.

  “Peter?”

  “Hello, Elizabeth?”

  “Yes.”

  “What’s up?”

  “You called me,” Elizabeth said, completely mystified.

  “No. You called me.”

  “No, I didn’t. I was out on the patio with Gail and Amy, the phone rang, I ran inside and saw your number on the caller ID and picked up the phone. There was crackling on the line. Then you said, ‘Hello Elizabeth.’ “

  “Well, hmmm,” Peter said. “I was sitting on the front porch, drinking a glass of water, plotting my novel when the phone rang. I ran inside to answer it and before I had the phone to my ear I heard you saying, ‘Peter.’ “

  “Okay,” Elizabeth said. “Not too strange.”

  “Well, completely strange,” Peter said, clearly confused. “But, I must confess, I was sitting there
thinking
about calling you.”

  “And what were you going to say to me in this imagined phone conversation?”

  Peter didn’t speak for a few moments. Then he said softly, “I was going to tell you not to marry Tony. I’m sitting on the porch swing, on a beautiful sunny day, and I’m thinking I would tell you not to marry Tony, when the shadow of an elderly man passed me and walked
through
the front door. A few moments later, the phone rang.”

  “I was, I still am, very shaken up.”

  “Grandfather,” Elizabeth said softly. “You said you wanted to live in a haunted house.”

  “I didn’t know what I was saying.”

  “Well, Peter
–
and, I guess, Grandfather
–
I
am
going to marry Tony. If you really feel so strongly, Peter, perhaps you don’t want to be one of our witnesses.”

  “I will be witness, Elizabeth. I said I would, and I will. And, truly, I would never have said what I’ve just said out loud to you except for this strange event. What you do is your business. But, since that gate has been opened, I
do
feel it’s not right.”

  “Don’t worry Peter. Everything will be fine. Tony is so much changed since I said I’d marry him. You’ll see.”

  “And the apparent interference from the other side?”

  “I don’t know, Peter. Maybe it’s just stuff we make up in our own minds.”

  “Perhaps....”

  They rang off, and she gathered herself for a few moments before rejoining Gail and Amy.

  “Who was it?”

  “Peter.”

  “Did he forget to tell you something?”

  “No. Just, sort of recapping I guess.” She picked up Amy and started making funny faces, which always made her laugh. She felt Gail studying her, but she ignored her.

  She resolved to ignore everything that did not have to do with the shortest, quickest route to making her Amy’s legal mother. But she didn’t sleep at all that night.

Chapter XVIII

The next week was filled with an incredible whirlwind of events. It wasn’t the way  Elizabeth had ever envisioned her wedding. But then, she asked herself, had she ever actually envisioned her wedding? Had she ever seriously believed that she
would
get married? No. She had not.

  She was not disappointed to have a small wedding. She had no blood relatives to speak of who would miss this event in her life. Except her mother, where ever she was. Not even Martha knew where her mother was.

  Martha! She hadn’t talked with Martha in ages with all the events going on in her life. She would invite her to the wedding. But she was always so busy, she probably wouldn’t be able to come anyway.

  Elizabeth shopped around for a dress the better part of a day with Gail and Amy in tow. She finally found a mid-calf length antique white dress, empire waist, three-quarter sleeves, with antique lace on the bodice. Very plain, understated.

  “Absolutely lovely,” Gail pronounced, and that was good enough for Elizabeth. The wedding was secondary to the fact that Amy would be in the hospital.

  She told herself she’d love to sit around and fantasize about her life with Tony. But how could she? Amy needed her undivided attention. Tony can wait a couple months while Amy recuperates, she thought, and while we get adoption proceedings in motion. Then I’ll give him undivided attention.