“But, Erich!”
“Jenny, I have to run. I’ll call you later.”
At the day-care center Mrs. Curtis was elaborately pleasant. “Such a distinguished boyfriend you have, Mrs. MacPartland. He phoned this morning. And I want you to know that you don’t have to transfer the children. I think we just need to get to know each other better and give them a chance to settle in. Isn’t that right, girls?”
He called her at the gallery. “I just landed in Minneapolis. Did the car get there?”
“Erich, it was a blessing. Not having to rush the girls out made such a difference. Whatever did you say to Mrs. Curtis? She was oozing sweetness and light.”
“I’ll bet she was. Jenny, where do you want to eat Friday night?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Choose a restaurant that you’ve always wanted to try . . . someplace you’ve never been with anyone else.”
“Erich, there are thousands of restaurants in New York. The ones on Second Avenue and Greenwich Village are my speed.”
“Have you ever been to Lutèce?”
“Good Lord, no.”
“Fine. We’ll eat there Friday night.”
In a daze Jenny got through the day. It didn’t help to have Mr. Hartley repeatedly comment how taken Erich had been with her. “Love at first sight, Jenny. He’s got it.”
Fran, the flight attendant who lived in apartment 4E of the brownstone, dropped in that evening. She was consumed with curiosity. “I saw that gorgeous guy in the foyer last night. I figured he had to have been here. And you have a date with him Friday. Wow!”
She volunteered to mind the girls for Jenny. “I’d love to meet him. Maybe he has a brother or a cousin or an old college pal.”
Jenny laughed. “Fran, he’ll probably think this through and call to tell me to forget it.”
“No, he won’t.” Fran shook her tightly curled head. “I’ve got a hunch.”
The week dragged. Wednesday. Thursday. And then miraculously it was Friday.
Erich came for her at seven-thirty. She had decided to wear a long-sleeved dress she’d bought on sale. The gold locket was set off by the oval neckline and its center diamond gleamed brilliantly against the black silk. She had twisted her hair into a French braid.
“You’re lovely, Jenny.” He looked quietly expensive in a dark blue suit with a faint pinstripe, a dark blue cashmere coat, a white silk scarf.
She phoned Fran to come down, caught the amused gleam in Erich’s eye at Fran’s open approval.
Tina and Beth were enchanted with the dolls Erich had brought them. Jenny looked at the beautiful painted faces on the dolls, the eyelids that opened and closed, the dimpled hands, the curling hair and compared them with the shabby gifts Kevin had chosen for Christmas.
She caught Erich’s frown as she handed him her well-worn thermal coat and for a moment wished that she’d accepted Fran’s suggestion that she borrow her fur jacket. But Nana always told her not to borrow.
Erich had hired a limousine for the evening. She leaned back against the upholstery and he reached for her hand. “Jenny, I’ve missed you. These were the longest four days of my life.”
“I’ve missed you too.” It was the simple truth but she wished she hadn’t sounded so fervent.
In the restaurant she glanced around at the other tables, spotting celebrity faces.
“Why are you smiling, Jenny?” Erich asked.
“Culture shock. Jet lag from one life-style to another. Do you realize not one person in this room is even aware of Mrs. Curtis’ Day Care Center.”
“Let’s hope not.” His eyes had a look of amused tenderness.
The waiter poured champagne. “You were wearing that locket the other day, Jenny. It’s quite lovely. Did Kevin give it to you?”
“No. It was Nana’s.”
He leaned across the table; his slender, sculptured fingers entwined around hers. “I’m glad. Otherwise it would have been bothering me all night. Now I can enjoy seeing it on you.”
In excellent French he discussed the menu with the captain. She asked him where he had acquired the language.
“Abroad. I did quite a bit of traveling. Finally I realized I was happiest and least lonely when I was at the farm, painting. But these last few days were pretty bad.”
“Why?”
“I was lonely for you.”
On Saturday they went to the zoo. Endlessly patient, Erich rotated having the girls on his shoulders and at their entreaties returned to the monkey section three times.
At lunch he cut Beth’s food as Jenny prepared Tina’s plate. He talked Tina into finishing her milk by promising to finish his Bloody Mary and with mock solemnity shook his head at Jenny’s twitching lips.
Over Jenny’s protests he insisted the girls each select one of Rumpelmayer’s famed stuffed animals and seemed blissfully unaware of the interminable time Beth took to make her decision.
“Are you sure you don’t have six kids on your Minnesota farm?” Jenny asked him as they stepped onto the street. “Nobody comes naturally by that kind of patience with children.”
“But I was raised by someone who had that kind of patience and it’s all I know.”
“I wish I’d known your mother.”
“I wish I’d known your grandmother.”
“Mommy,” Beth asked, “why do you look so happy?”
On Sunday Erich arrived with double-runner ice skates for Tina and Beth and took them all to the rink at Rockefeller Center to skate.
That evening he took Jenny to the Park Lane for a quiet dinner. Over coffee they both became silent. Finally he said, “It’s been a very happy two days, Jenny.”
“Yes.”
But he didn’t say anything about coming back. She turned her head and looked out at Central Park, now sparkling from the combination of streetlights, headlights and the windows of the apartments that bordered it. “The park is always so pretty, isn’t it?”
“Would you miss it very much?”
“Miss it?”
“Minnesota has a different kind of beauty.”
What was he saying? She turned to face him. In a spontaneous gesture their hands met, their fingers entwined. “Jenny, it’s fast but it’s right. If you insist I’ll come to New York every weekend for six months—for a year—and court you. But is it necessary?”
“Erich, you hardly know me!”
“I’ve always known you. You were a solemn baby; you swam when you were five; you won the general excellence medal in the fifth, sixth and seventh grades.”
“Seeing an album doesn’t mean you know me.”
“I think it does. And I know myself. I’ve always understood what I was looking for, was confident that when it came I would recognize it. You feel it too. Admit it.”
“I’ve already made one mistake. I thought I felt all the right things for Kevin.”
“Jenny, you’re not fair to yourself. You were very young. You told me he was the first date you ever cared about. And don’t forget, wonderful as your grandmother was, you have to have missed having a man in your life, a father, a brother. You were ready to fall in love with Kevin.”
She considered. “I suppose that’s true.”
“And the girls. Don’t lose their childhood, Jenny. They’re so happy when you’re with them. I think they could be happy with me. Marry me, Jenny. Soon.”
A week ago she hadn’t known him. She felt the warmth of his hand, looked into his questioning eyes, felt that her own reflected the same blaze of love.
And she knew without a doubt what her answer would be.
They sat up till dawn in the apartment and talked. “I want to adopt the girls, Jenny. I’ll have my lawyers prepare forms for MacPartland to sign.”
“I don’t think he’ll give up the children.”
“My guess is that he will. I want them to have my name. When we have a family of our own I don’t want Beth and Tina to feel like outsiders. I’ll be a good father to them. He’s worse t
han a bad one. He’s indifferent to them. By the way, what kind of engagement ring did you get from MacPartland?”
“I didn’t.”
“Good. I’ll have Caroline’s ring reset for you.”
Wednesday evening on the phone he told her that he’d arranged to meet Kevin on Friday afternoon. “I think it’s best if I see him alone, dear.”
All week Tina and Beth kept asking when “Mr. Kruer” would come back. When he arrived at the apartment on Friday evening they flew into his arms. Jenny felt happy tears in her eyes at their whoops of joy as he hugged them.
Over dinner at The Four Seasons he told her about his session with Kevin. “He wasn’t too friendly. I’m afraid he’s something of a spoiler, darling. He doesn’t want you or the children, but he doesn’t want anyone else to have you. But I persuaded him it was in their best interest. We’ll complete the formalities by the end of the month. Then the adoption will take about six months to finalize. Let’s get married on February third; that will be almost a month to the day we met.
“Which reminds me.” He opened his attaché case. She’d been surprised that he brought that case to the dinner table. “Let’s see how this fits.”
It was an emerald-cut solitaire. As Erich slipped it on her finger, Jenny stared down into the fiery beauty of the perfect stone.
“I decided not to have it reset,” he told her. “It really is perfect just as it is.”
“It’s beautiful, Erich.”
“And, darling—let’s get this out of the way too.” He pulled out a sheaf of papers. “When my lawyers prepared the adoption papers, they also insisted on taking care of the premarital agreement.”
“The premarital agreement?” Jenny asked absently. She was absorbed in admiring her ring. It was not all a dream. It was real. It was happening. She was going to marry Erich. She almost laughed thinking of Fran’s reaction. “Jenny, he’s too perfect. He’s handsome; he’s rich; he’s talented; he worships you. God, he can’t take his eyes off you; he’s crazy about the kids. Let me tell you there’s got to be something wrong. He’s gotta be a gambler or a drinker or a bigamist.”
She’d almost told Erich that and then decided against it. She knew Fran’s brash humor didn’t go over very well with him. What was he saying?
“It’s just that I am a rather—wealthy—man. . . . My lawyers weren’t happy about the way things have moved so rapidly. This simply says that if we were to break up before ten years have passed the Krueger interests will remain intact.”
She was taken aback. “If we broke up, I wouldn’t want anything from you, Erich.”
“I would rather die than lose you, Jen. This is just a formality.” He laid the papers by her plate. “Of course you may want your lawyers to go over these carefully. In fact I was instructed to tell you that even if you or they are satisfied with all the clauses, you should not mail them back before you’ve held them two days.”
“Erich, I don’t have a lawyer.” She glanced at the top page, was aghast at the legal jargon and shook her head. Incongruously she remembered Nana’s habit of carefully checking the grocery tape, her occasional triumphant, “He charged me twice for the lemons.” Nana would scrutinize any document like this before she signed it.
“Erich, I don’t want to wade through all this. Where shall I sign?”
“I’ve marked the places for you, darling.”
Quickly Jenny scrawled her name. Obviously Erich’s lawyers feared that she might be marrying him for his money. She supposed she couldn’t blame them but even so it felt uncomfortable.
“And, darling, besides that one provision, this sets up a trust fund for each of the girls which they’ll inherit at twenty-one. It goes into effect as soon as the adoption is complete. It also provides that you will inherit everything I have on my death.”
“Don’t even talk about that, Erich.”
He put the papers back in his case. “What a terribly unromantic thing to have to do,” he said. “What do you want for our fiftieth anniversary, Jen?”
“Darby and Joan.”
“What?”
“They’re Royal Doulton figurines. An old man and an old woman sitting contentedly side by side. I’ve always loved them.”
The next morning when Erich came to the house he had a gift box under his arm. The two figurines were in it.
Even more than the ring, they made Jenny sure about the rest of her life.
4
I appreciate this, Jen. Three hundred bucks is a big help. You were always a good sport.”
“Well, you and I collected this stuff together. The money is rightfully half yours, Kev.”
“God, when I think of how we’d go around late at night to pick up the furniture people were leaving out with their garbage. Remember how we just beat someone to the love seat? You sat on it before the other guy could get to it.”
“I remember,” Jenny said. “He was so mad I thought he’d pull a knife on me. Look, Kevin, I wish you’d come earlier. Erich will be here in a few minutes and I don’t think he’ll be pleased to run into you.”
They were standing in the dismantled apartment. The furniture had been taken out—Jenny had sold everything for just under six hundred dollars. The walls, now bare of the cheerful prints, looked soiled and cracked. The basic shabbiness of the apartment was cruelly revealed without the furniture and carpet to hide its nakedness. The handsome new suitcases were the only items in the room.
Kevin was wearing an Ultrasuede jacket. No wonder he’s always broke, she thought. Dispassionately she studied him, noticing the puffy lines under his eyes. Another hangover, she guessed. With guilt she realized that she felt more nostalgia at leaving this tiny apartment than she did at the prospect of not seeing Kevin again.
“You look beautiful, Jen. That blue is a great color on you.”
She was wearing a two-piece blue silk dress. On one of his visits, Erich had insisted on outfitting her and the children at Saks. She’d protested but he’d overridden her objection. “Look at it this way. By the time the bill comes in you’ll be my wife.”
Now her Vuitton bags were filled with designer suits and blouses and sweaters and slacks and evening skirts, Raphael boots and Magli shoes. After her first uneasiness about having Erich paying for them before they were married, she’d had a marvelous time. And what joy it had been to shop for the girls. “You’re so good to us.” It became a constant refrain.
“I love you, Jenny. Every penny I spend is pleasure for me. I’ve never been happier.”
He’d helped her select the clothes. Erich had an excellent sense of style. “The artist’s eye,” she joked.
“Where are the girls?” Kevin asked. “I’d like to say goodbye to them.”
“Fran took them for a walk. We’ll pick them up after the ceremony. Fran and Mr. Hartley are having lunch with us. Then we’ll go right to the airport.”
“Jen, I think you’ve rushed into this too fast. You’ve only known Krueger a month.”
“That’s long enough when you’re sure, when you’re very sure. And we both are.”
“Well, I’m still not sure about the adoption. I don’t want to give up my kids.”
Jenny tried not to show irritation. “Kevin, we’ve been through this. You’ve signed the papers. You don’t bother with the girls. You don’t support them. In fact whenever you’re interviewed you deny having a family.”
“How are they going to feel when they’re grown and understand that I gave them up?”
“Grateful for giving them the chance to be with a father who wants them. You seem to forget I’m adopted. And I’ll always be grateful to whoever gave me up. Being raised by Nana was mighty special.”
“I agree Nana was mighty special. But I don’t like Erich Krueger. There’s something about him . . .”
“Kevin!”
“All right. I’ll go. I’ll miss you, Jen. I still love you. You know that.” He took her hands. “And I love my kids too.”
Act three, curtain, Je
nny thought. Not a dry eye in the house. “Please, Kevin. I don’t want Erich to find you here.”
“Jen, there’s a chance I may be coming to Minnesota. I’ve got a good crack at getting in the repertory company at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. If I do, I’ll look you up.”
“Kevin, don’t look me up!”
Firmly she opened the apartment door. The buzzer rang. “That must be Erich,” Jenny said nervously. “Darn it. I didn’t want him to see you here. Come on, I’ll walk you out.”
Erich was waiting behind the locked French-glass foyer doors. He was holding a large gift-wrapped box. Dismayed, she watched his expression change from anticipation to displeasure as he saw her coming down the hall with Kevin.
She opened the outer door to admit him then said quickly, “Kevin stopped over for just a minute. Good-bye, Kevin.”
The two men stared at each other. Neither spoke. Then Kevin smiled and bent over Jenny. Kissing her on the mouth, he said, his tone intimate. “It was wonderful being with you. Thanks again, Jen. See you in Minnesota, darling.”
5
We are crossing over Green Bay, Wisconsin. Our altitude is thirty thousand feet. We’ll be landing at the Twin Cities Airport at five-fifty-eight P.M. The temperature in Minneapolis is eight degrees Fahrenheit. It’s a clear, beautiful afternoon. Hope you’re enjoying your flight, folks. Thanks again for flying Northwest.”
Erich’s hand covered Jenny’s. “Enjoying your flight?”
She smiled at him. “Very much.” They both looked down at his mother’s gold wedding band now on her finger.
Beth and Tina had fallen asleep. The flight attendant had removed the center arm and they were curled up together, auburn ringlets overlapping, their new green velvet jumpers and white turtleneck pullovers somewhat rumpled now.
Jenny turned to study the cushion of clouds that floated outside the plane window. Underneath her happiness she was still furious with Kevin. She’d known he was weak and irresponsible but she’d always thought of him as being casually good-natured. But he was a spoiler. He’d managed to cloud their wedding day.