Beloved (71 page)

Jane waved and cupped her hands into a megaphone as the black and white ferry began backing away from the dock.
"
I
'
m sorry you had to come all this way!
"
she yelled up to her astonished mother.
"
I
'
ll call you! Or you can call me at
—
"

"
My place,
"
Mac said, slipping his arm around her waist.
"
At Mac
'
s,
"
she yelled,
"
and we
'
ll talk all about it. And tell Dad I
'
m glad he came! Truly! And tell him that I
'
m
—
"

"
Getting married,
"
Mac murmured, kissing her temple. Jane turned back to him.
"
Yes,
"
she said, her eyes shining.
"
I love you very much.
"

She called out to her mother, who was rapidly passing out of earshot.
"
And tell him I
'
m getting married!
"
she screamed, waving madly.
"
Not to Bing! I love you, Mother!
"

The last, the very last, image Jane had of the scene was of her father,
Wall Street Journal
still in hand, coming out and peering over his half-glasses at the upstart daughter who he insisted ever after must
'
ve got switched at birth.

Mac took Jane in his arms and kissed her
—
more hooting, more cheering
—
long and hard.
"
If you hadn
'
t let me carry you off, I would
'
ve died,
"
he said in a shaky, joyous voice.

Jane reached into the big flap pocket of her sundress and brought out a small white ticket.

"
Round trip,
"
she said with a wicked, provocative smile.

"N
ervous?
"

"
What do
you
think?
"
Mac said, opening his arms to her.

Jane crawled into the macrame hammock alongside him and let him engulf her in a warm summer
'
s grasp.
"
I
think you never should
'
ve told my dad last Christmas that he didn
'
t know a jacknife from his elbow.
"

"
Yeah,
"
Mac said reflectively.
"
In retrospect, I should
'
ve been more diplomatic. Especially since I was a guest in his mansion.
"

"
His
part
of the mansion,
"
Jane corrected, nipping his shoulder.
"
It
'
s only a condo.
"

"
A condo that includes the ballroom.
"

"
They entertain a lot. Anyway, Mother tells me he
'
s been boning up on all things green, just to show you. Be prepared for a lively discussion on crop rotation when they arrive tonight.
"

"
Did Gwen tell you she was subscribing to
Parents
magazine? With grandchildren coming at her from all sides, she
'
s decided she
'
d better do a little boning up herself,
"
Mac said, slipping his hand under Jane
'
s blouse and idly circling her belly.

"
Oh
boy. Maybe we
'
d better move the guest room from the house to Lilac Cottage.
"

"
What? And wreck your serenity? Where would you paint?
"

"
I haven
'
t done a watercolor since March. Who has time? With the business starting to take off
—
look, I
'
ve been thinking, Mac.
"
She sat up and swung one leg over his stomach, straddling him.
"
Let
'
s move the office to the cottage, and add a little shop. I can sell my watercolors there instead of at a gallery, and of course we
'
d have wreaths and dried flowers and seasonal arrangements. I
'
ll move my studio upstairs. And the small room can be a nursery,
"
she said, giving him a little bounce with her buttocks.

Mac groaned under her weight and said,
"
Why bother running this past
me?
You do what you want anyway.
"

She smiled and leaned over to kiss him.
"
I do not.
"

He took a moment to savor her tongue before he said,
"
You
'
re a radical in petticoats. You made me buy a computer.
"

"
I talked you
into
buying a computer. Besides, you don
'
t have to use it; I
'
m the one who keeps the books.
"

"
I have a son who
'
s a wizard at it and another wizard of indeterminate sex on the way. I damn well better learn to speak their language. I have no choice.
"

"
You
'
re such a fraud, McKenzie. I have to
drag
you away from that thing after supper. It
'
s just a good thing I can still make you a better offer. Like last night.
"

A remembrance of the night before passed over Mac
'
s face, filling it with a depth of emotion that
made her own heart swell
.

"
Is it enough for you?
"
he asked softly.
"
What we have?
"

"
My God, Mac,
"
she whispered, bending over him.
"
It
'
s life itself.
"

She gave him a kiss of pure, humble gratitude, for making her existence whole.

"
Hey, you two! Cut that out! It
'
s embarrassin
'
.
"
Uncle Easy was approaching them from the lane that led out to the road, the lane that Bing had granted Mac an easement over, in writing, just the month before. Uncle Easy had his cane with him for his walk, but he didn
'
t seem to need it except as a pointer to scold them with.

Jane hopped out of the hammock and Mac laughed and sat up and said,
"
You
'
re just jealous, you old rake. Besides, you had your chance.
"

"
At her, or at the hammock?
"
Uncle Easy said with an irrepressible leer.
"
All things considered, I
'
d rather take on the hammock. I could probably get in and out of
that
with a lot less chance of killing myself.
"

"
Uncle
Easy!
"
Jane said, blushing all over.

"
Ah, yes,
"
her husband murmured in her ear.
"
This is going to be one interesting dinner party.
"

"
I heard that, Mac McKenzie,
"
Uncle Easy said, though clearly he could not have. He went up to his nephew and gave him a friendly elbow in the ribs.
"
They thought when you eloped that they got stuck with the son-in-law from hell. Wait till they find out you come with a matching set of relations.
"

Then he turned to Jane and bowed to her as low as his stiff old frame would let him.
"
Never fear, madam,
"
he said.
"
I shall be on me best behavior t
'
night.
"

From behind his back he brought out his other arm and presented Jane with a newly cut, pale pink rose. It was a smallish blossom, camellia-like, with its rounded petals opened to show yellow stamens within.
"
Happy Anniversary,
"
he said shyly.

"
The new rose!
"
she cried.
"
So it
did
open overnight!
"

"
Told you it would,
"
Uncle Easy said.
"
It
'
s a goodish warm day.
"

She accepted the flower from him and kissed him on his lined and withered cheek, then sipped the intense and spicy fragrance of the rose the way she would a superbly aged wine.

Mac, who
'
d put his arm around her as he studied the fruit of their labor together, leaned over and took a sniff himself.
"
Hmm. Definitely essence of aphrodisiac,
"
he said, moving from the rose to her mouth and kissing her in an interested way.

"
You two. Honest to Pete. Keep this up and I
'
m gonna hafta go to
Doris
'
s house instead,
"
the old man muttered, shaking his head.

"
Don
'
t be silly,
"
Jane said, slipping the rose through an eyelet in the ruffle of her blouse.
"
Doris
would never let you browbeat her the way we do.
"

"
I
'
m getting out of here,
"
Mac said, covering his head with his hands comically and ducking away.
"
Yell if you need anything. I think I
'
ll take the tractor over to fill in this one pothole I happened to see
—
"

"
Mac,
"
Jane yelled after him.
"
You
just
put on clean clothes ...."

Uncle Easy chuckled and, using his cane now, eased himself slowly into a high-backed wooden
Adirondack
chair close by.
"
He
'
s a good kid,
"
he said contentedly.
"
Always was.
"

Jane sighed and climbed back into the hammock. After a day of frantic, picky preparations
—
the guest room was bursting with flowers
—
she needed the break. All in all, she felt pretty proud of what she and Mac had accomplished together there. She hoped her parents would be able to see the evidence of their year of labor. Lilac Cottage was as charming as ever, a Christmas card come true, especially in December, with a thousand white lights strung around the hollies.

The farmhouse, always picture perfect, now had the finishing touches that made it a home: people. Jerry had come to stay several times
—
including three weeks in the past summer when his mother was on her honeymoon
— and hadn
'
t broken a single bone. Uncle Easy, on the other hand, had broken his wrist in April (pulling out dandelions) and came to convalesce with them. One week led to another, and now he was part of their lives. But he was getting restless; soon he
'
d be headed back to what he called his bachelor
'
s pad.

Yes: a nearly perfect year. She bent over her blouse to take a whiff of the rose again, thinking that she had no earthly right to ask for more; and yet
....

Just the one little thing,
she prayed meekly.
Just to
know that it worked out for them.