She went to dinner with him.
As she got to know him, she was even more charmed. Erich’s parents were elegant multilingual Europeans with homes in Switzerland and Argentina. (Many of Erich’s clothes were bespoke, tailored in London, although Lisa knew that shouldn’t matter. But she did love his clothes.) Mr. Hawley worked for an important international Swiss bank with many initials. Erich was going to work there, too. This particular bank was an institution that helped fund improvement projects in less wealthy countries. In Lisa’s mind, Erich became a kind of modern-day combination of King Arthur and Robin Hood. Very quickly she not only admired him, she adored him.
Erich had his own apartment, and for the rest of the year, Lisa more or less lived with him. She felt privileged to fix his dinner, clean his kitchen, do his laundry. Somehow she managed to keep her grades up, too, although she scarcely cared. For the first time in her life, she was happy to be Cinderella, and not until much later did she realize that Erich not only liked her in that role, but he had slowly, brilliantly, surreptitiously imposed that role upon her.
In April, Erich took her to New York to meet his parents, who had come up from their Washington, D.C., home on business. Lisa found them so terribly smooth and cultured that she became tongue-tied, probably because all three of the Hawleys would lapse into German or French when speaking with one another, and Lisa could hardly remember English in the glow of their brilliance.
But Erich’s parents liked Lisa, and in May, just before graduation, Lisa brought Erich home to meet her parents. Erich thought that Lisa’s family was the very model of old money, with their book-filled historic Greek Revival house and ancient Range Rover.
That weekend on the island made Lisa’s adoration waver slightly. Erich was moving to D.C. when he graduated, and every so often, he’d casually suggested that Lisa might like to live there with him. In Vermont, Lisa knew she wanted to go with Erich. On Nantucket, she wasn’t so certain. It was as if she were one person on the island, and another person with Erich. She wasn’t sure where she wanted to end up with her life, and she didn’t know if Erich was the spot or a path in the opposite direction.
She intended to talk this over with her mother and with a couple of her best island friends. She wasn’t clear about how she really felt. Did she love Erich or simply love the fact that he, cosmopolitan, elegant Erich, loved her? But Erich, who was a genius at marketing and presentation, surprised her the night before they left the island. He took her and her parents to Le Languedoc, one of the toniest restaurants on the island. They enjoyed a feast of oysters, lobster, and fresh baby greens. They were happily studying the dessert menu when the waiter arrived at their table carrying a standing ice bucket.
Lisa and her parents stared at the bottle of Dom Perignon in surprise.
Erich turned to the waiter. “Would you please bring the young lady’s dessert now.”
There was a moment of silence. The waiter reappeared, setting before Lisa a delicate white porcelain plate holding a small black velvet box.
“Erich?” Lisa asked.
“Open it,” Erich told her, smiling.
Of course she guessed what it was. And she knew very well that she could make only one answer to the question the box held. She just didn’t know if that was the right answer for her. She was in love with Erich—any woman would be. But she wasn’t certain she could fit into his world, and she knew he would never consider living on Nantucket.
She opened the black velvet box. Inside was an emerald-cut diamond, at least two carats in size, set in a platinum band. She looked up at Erich.
“Lisa, will you marry me?” he asked.
Her breath caught in her throat and in that flash of silence she was aware that everyone in the dining room was watching them.
Trembling, she answered, “Yes, Erich. Yes, I will marry you.”
Erich lifted the box off the plate, removed the ring from the velvet slot, took Lisa’s hand, and gently slid the ring onto her finger. Leaning forward, he kissed her softly, chastely.
The dining room burst into applause. The waiter popped the champagne. As Lisa and Erich toasted each other, she decided she truly and wholeheartedly loved him. He was good, smart, handsome, and ambitious, and he had chosen her. She could sense how much this evening meant to him, how pleased he was that everything was so perfect, and she was thrilled to be a partner in the creation of the moment.
The next day, though, as she spent one last hour walking on the beach with her best friend Rachel, she admitted that she had doubts.
“You’ve met him, Rachel,” Lisa said. “He’s like a prince. Why would he choose me?”
Rachel laughed. “Um, maybe because you’re beautiful and smart and kind?”
“But our worlds are so different. Can you see me in Washington, D.C., discussing foreign economies with people who know what they’re talking about?”
“Sure I can,” Rachel said. “I can see you doing anything. The question is, do you want to?”
“I do. I really do. I mean, I do want to marry him.”
“But…?”
“But…” Lisa paused. “He doesn’t laugh a lot. He never belly laughs.”
“Maybe that’s because he’s not leaning on a bar drinking his thirteenth beer,” Rachel suggested. “Come on, Lisa. Look at the man. He’s important. His work is important.”
“I know.”
“Are you afraid?”
“Not afraid, no…”
“Do you believe he loves you?”
“I do.”
“Do you love him?”
Lisa hesitated. “Yes, I guess I do.”
“Then all the rest will work out,” Rachel assured her.
* * *
—
Erich wanted the wedding to be held in Washington, where all his parents’ friends could attend, where the ceremony could take place in the Washington National Cathedral and the reception at the Chevy Chase Club.
Lisa wanted to be married at home, on Nantucket, and friends of her parents had offered the yacht club for the reception, so that should be fancy enough for Erich’s parents and his friends.
They argued. In less than a month, they would graduate from Middlebury, and that didn’t leave them much time for a wedding before Erich began his duties with the Swiss bank. Most weddings on Nantucket were planned a year ahead, so most churches and wedding officials would be booked. She was her parents’ only child. This was important for them.
“Maybe we should wait,” Lisa suggested.
“Maybe we should elope,” Erich countered. “We don’t need all the fuss of a wedding, anyway. We’ve got more significant work to get on with.”