Probably to fire me, she thought.
It was going to be a sad milestone in what had so far been a pretty eventful life—the end of an “epoch,” so to speak. And right now, London really wasn’t sure what the future held for her.
Suddenly, the choux profiterole seemed less sweet.
But maybe it was time to welcome a little blandness into her life. Surely there was something to say for square and stable. Also, she was still taken by Ian’s good looks. With his handsome, clean-shaven face, he projected a no-nonsense, down-to-basics quality—not like Albert, who had first attracted London through sheer smoothness. And Ian looked especially nice tonight, dressed in his best three-piece suit.
And at the moment, she figured they looked pretty good together. She’d put on one of her loveliest outfits, a chiffon maxi dress with a demure black top that burst into a colorful riot of printed flowers near the hemline. She had even wrangled her short auburn hair into a style that resembled intentionally tousled waves rather than simply looking windblown.
Meanwhile, London sensed a change in Ian’s demeanor. The poor guy was sweating now, and he tucked his finger under his collar as if it suddenly felt too tight and he was getting dizzy.
Please, just get it over with, she thought.
“London, the point I’m trying to make is …”
His voice faded.
“I think I understand,” London said as gently as she could. “Life and business are really just alike, aren’t they?”
He let out a small, self-deprecating laugh.
“If only I could put it so succinctly,” he said.
Succinct would be good, London thought.
But it quickly became apparent that still wasn’t going to happen.
“London, when my parents were about our age, they made a … merger, not unlike the one I’m currently negotiating in my work.”
A merger? London thought, trying to keep her jaw from dropping.
“And do you know what their secret always was?” Ian continued. “Planning. From the very beginning, they planned everything they were going to do with their lives down to the last detail. And that’s what I’d like us to do, too, starting tonight—make plans.”
London felt her face grow pale.
Make plans?
This was going to be worse than she’d expected.
She’d seldom planned anything serious during her whole life.
Ian added, “And you know what a productive, prosperous, and happy merger my parents’ marriage has been.”
London didn’t know anything of the kind. During the few times when she’d met Ian’s parents, she’d found them to be robotically distant—not just to her, but to everybody, including each other. To London, Ian’s family home had felt like a scene from the original version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, when everyone got turned into fake-human pod people.
Ian looked upward meditatively.
“I think, now that the second quarter is ending, and mortgage rates are at a historic low, it’s a good time to put down a payment on a house …”
London shuddered deeply.
“We’ll be frugal, especially at first,” he said. “We’ll live below our means, in the same neighborhood with Tia and Bernard. That’s right near a good school. We’ll buy a ranch-style house. No stairs, so we won’t have to move again for fifty years. We’ll have one child in two years, then another two years later, and another two years after that …”
Three children? London thought.
She’d seldom given much thought to having children at all. They had always been a distant possibility, never a scheduled priority.
“We should seize this moment,” he continued. “This is a great time to open college accounts and start layaway plans. We can also decide what schools the kids will go to, starting with kindergarten and continuing all the way through college.”
He scratched his chin thoughtfully.
“We’re both in excellent health, I’m sure we’ll be able to enjoy life well into our nineties.”
London shuddered as she tried to imagine all those decades of meticulously weighed and measured bliss. She hoped he hadn’t already picked out a cemetery plot and a tombstone. Fortunately, his monologue faded away before he could start talking about what they might say on their deathbeds. He was sweating even more than before, and he looked like he’d just run a mile or so.
He spoke a little hoarsely now.
“London … I guess what I’m trying to say is … I’d be deeply honored if you accepted this …”
“Merger?” London asked.
He smiled and shrugged and nodded, apparently speechless.
“Um, Ian … what just happened? Did you just … pop the question?”
Ian squinted thoughtfully.
“Why, yes. ‘Pop the question’ might be the right way to put it.”
He reached into his jacket pocket and took out a little black box and opened it.
Inside, of course, was a diamond ring.
“London Rose, will you … merge your life with mine?”
As London felt the world swimming around her, the waiter returned to their table with two crystal snifters of cognac. Ian started to raise his glass in a toast. But unable to help herself, London took an ungracefully large swallow. She figured she was going to need at least one more cognac before the evening was over.
Meanwhile …
What on earth am I going to say?
CHAPTER TWO
The explosions nearly drowned out Tia’s voice.
“You told him what?” London’s sister demanded, almost yelling to be heard over the noise her kids were making.
“I told him I’d think about it.” London raised her own voice in reply.
“What’s there to think about? Ian is perfect for you!”
Arguing with her older sister often felt to London like arguing with a mirror, seeing a reflection not of herself but of how she might someday be. Tia’s similar features carried just a bit more of a frown, her figure carried a few more pounds, and her darker hair fell stylishly straight.
London didn’t bother to suppress an audible sigh of despair. It would never be heard over the racket going on in the nearby family room. Tia’s two daughters, ten-year-old Stella and twelve-year-old Margie, were blowing things up in the war game they were playing on the TV.
At least they’re not falling into gender stereotypes, London thought.
All the same, she had to admit that princess costumes and Barbie dolls and tea parties would keep things a whole lot quieter around here.
It was the morning after that awkward dinner with Ian. As she often did, London was staying with her sister during a break between ocean voyages. This time, she was already worrying about where she would live if there was no new assignment coming up. Would she have to give up hotels and her sister’s guest room and find a place of her own?
Or will I … ?
After all, the Ian option was still open.
In the midst of the household chaos, Tia had managed to make a huge plate of ragged-looking pancakes. A chaotic breakfast with the kids had just come to an end, and the two girls had stampeded into the family room.
This was the sisters’ first real chance to talk this morning, and Tia was not taking the news of London’s indecision at all well. Now as London picked at the remaining syrupy scraps on her plate, Tia popped up from her chair and started clattering around the kitchen.