Proposition (9 page)

Amy obediently let herself be pulled into his bear hug, her gaze meeting Stacy’s over her son’s broad shoulder.

“Missed you,” he murmured into her ear with a tired sigh.

Amy cleared her throat, and pushed gently at his chest. “We have a guest.”

Jake turned around. “Mum?”

Stacy slipped from her high chair and walked to him.

“Why am I learning from your secretary that you married?” she demanded rather sharply, her hands on her hips. Amy observed the son and mother with round eyes, afraid that in a minute she’d have the opportunity to witness some family fight.

But Jake stepped to his mother with a smile, and embraced her.

“Of course I intended to tell you,” he said warmly, in the kind of tone that Amy noticed he usually used only with her. “But it all happened so quickly and we’ve been so busy the last few days.”

Amy let out a breath of relief when she saw Stacy patting her son affectionately on the back.

“When your secretary told me this morning, that you couldn’t talk with me because your wife was on the line, I caught the first plane here.” Stacy stroked her son’s cheek. “I was so excited about the news. You know that I’ve been after you to settle down for ages.” She pointed her finger into his tie.

Jake turned to Amy, who stood beside him. He caught her hand and pulled her close.

“I simply wanted the right girl,” he said tenderly and kissed Amy on the top of her head.

She just stared at him in wonder.

She knew that he didn’t say that just to convince his mother. He said nice things to her all the time, as if he really cared about her; as if he’d been in love with her. But when he’d come with this whole idea of marriage, he said he’d valued her for her qualities as a person, and he hadn’t spoken anything about love. It had been totally understandable for her then, because how could he speak of love to someone he barely knew? Had he declared then to be in love with her, she wouldn’t have believed him, assuming it had been just a maneuver to convince her to agree to this whole crazy marriage idea. However, now he acted almost like some lovesick boy.

Stacy’s voice brought her to reality and she tore her eyes from Jake’s face. “Well, first I went to your office, thinking to find you there. I didn’t but at least I found out where you’re living now.”

“Marcia mentioned to me in the morning that you called, but she said that you switched yourself off. I tried to call you later but you didn’t answer,” Jake said.

He draped his arm over Amy’s back, his hand stroking her arm.

“Well, I wanted to see it with my own eyes, and surprise you.” Stacy grinned.

“You certainly did, mum.” Jake said it lightly, but when he glanced at his wife, Amy was pretty sure that he was just a bit exasperated.

She freed herself from her husband’s embrace and turned back to the cooker.

“I invited our guest to have dinner with us,” she said as she put the pasta into a pan of boiling water. “Jake, go and change your clothes.”” She lifted the cover from the skillet to stir the sauce. “Supper should be ready in ten minutes.”

Jake followed the order obediently and soon the two women were left alone in the kitchen again.

Stacy moved to stand by her side. “He does what you want him to do without a word of protest,” she noted in a whisper with a kind of admiration, if Amy read it properly.

She gave the older women a quizzical look. “Well, I’m not sure.” She shrugged. “I think that he does. He’s been quite...” she paused, trying to find the right word, “obedient so far. Though of course he can be very stubborn and unyielding about some things,” she murmured, remembering their fight over the credit card from a few days before.

“My dear, where can I wash my hands and refresh myself?” Stacy asked.

“Ah, yes sure, on the left from the front door down the hall, there’s a guest bathroom,” Amy explained as she took the pasta off the cooker. “I’ll show you in a moment.”

“No, no, I’ll find my way.” Stacy patted her back. “Finish here, and don’t worry about me, I’ll be all right.”

Amy felt nothing short of huge relief, when she was alone in the kitchen. It was hard to deal with Jake alone, and now with his mother here it was worse.

She took her apron off, rushed to the dining area, and started setting the table. Jake came back in when she was putting on the finishing touches. Had she known about the visit she’d have bought fresh flowers to decorate the table. Strong arms wrapped around her from behind and she inhaled the familiar scent of his aftershave. She turned to him and noticed that he was clean shaven.

“You’ve shaved?” She touched his cheek.

“Yeah, this morning. I’d noticed scratches on your neck, before you woke up.” He touched the reddened place, just above her collarbone. She wore an elegant blouse, with a bateau neckline, showing off her creamy neck to perfection. “I realized I had caused it.”

“It doesn’t hurt.” She shrugged off his concern off. “I haven’t even noticed. But what about your mum?” she lowered her voice. “Did you really forget to tell her?”

“Where is she?” he whispered, looking around.

“In the guest bathroom,” Amy whispered back.

“I didn’t forget, and I intended to call her soon, but I wanted to have you only to myself for some time yet.” Seeing Amy’s confused frown, he added, “I knew that she would do exactly what she did, catch the first flight here.”

Amy walked past him, and back to the kitchen to bring the pasta to the table. “I was a bit surprised when I opened the door and she was there hugging me, kissing me on the cheeks, laughing and crying at the same time.”

“She must’ve given you a fright,” Jake guessed.

“Not that much, I mean after the first shock wore off it was ok,” Amy said distractedly. She glanced around the table, checking if anything was missing. “She was really nice to me.” She leaned towards him and whispered her eyes wide, “But I got rather worried when she started talking about grandchildren.”

Jake chuckled and whispered back. “Yeah, that’s nothing surprising. I’ve been hearing this for several years now.”

Stacy entered so their conversation came to a natural end. They sat at the table and started eating. When they were half finished with the meal, the dreaded question returned.

“Amy, you really didn’t tell me how you got married?”

Amy’s hand stilled in the air, before the fork reached her mouth. She glanced quickly at Jake.

“In Las Vegas,” Jake informed her curtly. “We decided to make it only the two of us.”

“Oh, how very nice.” Stacy smiled, glancing searchingly from her daughter-in-law to her son. “So romantic.” It was obvious she was dying to know more.

Jake smiled. “Yes, we think that too.”

Amy concentrated on her plate. She nearly jumped in her seat when after a moment of silence another undesirable question fell from Stacy’s mouth.

“Are you thinking about children?”

Amy gaped at her. “We’ve been married for less than two weeks.”

“But why wait?” Stacy cried excitedly. “You’re both healthy, young, and you can afford to have a whole bunch.”

“Mum, we have time,” Jake interjected gently, but his mother ignored him and addressed her daughter-in-law again.

“Amy, would you like to have children?”

Amy swallowed the food she had in her mouth, and spoke as calmly as she could.

“Yes, of course.” She managed a pale smile. “I think most women want to have them, it’s in our nature. But it’s a very serious decision,” she added earnestly.

“I could help. I can do babysitting whenever you wish, Amy,” Stacy assured her. “I could even move back here to help with the little ones, if you’d like to return to work after maternity leave.”

Amy smiled bravely. She glanced up at Jake, but he wasn’t much help, only digging in the remnants of his spaghetti.

“Thank you, but we haven’t discussed children yet,” she said, trying to sound diplomatic. “But if I had children one day, I would love for them to have a loving grandmother close by. My fondest childhood memories are connected with my granny who took care of me and my brother when my father was at work.” Amy looked at her mother-in-law, who was by this time all smiles, and had tears in her eyes.

However, when her eyes met Jake’s he was shaking his head and frowning at her. What was the matter? Didn’t he want his mother to live closer?

At last the meal came to end, and Jake proposed to drive Stacy to his old apartment, informing her at the same time that there was only one bedroom in Amy’s condo. But something tugged at Amy’s heart, and she interrupted him. She proposed that Stacy could stay with them this night because it was late already, if she didn’t mind sleeping on the couch in the living room. Obviously, Stacy didn’t mind, because she readily agreed. In the end, Amy brought clean sheets, and Jake helped to enfold the couch, which was a sleeper.

After the final goodnights, Stacy went to the guest bathroom, and Amy quickly put the kitchen to order. Jake insisted on helping her. His helping was usually more a source of irritation for her than a real help, because he trampled under her feet, and was in her way most of the time. Still it didn’t change the fact that she did appreciate his efforts. She’d heard too many stories about men who didn’t do a thing at home, or even tried to help. Men who treated women as servants, expecting them to do all the housework without so much as a simple thank you in return. Jake wasn’t like that, so far at least.

When they entered their bedroom, she dreamt only about the shower and bed, but Jake closed the door firmly behind them, and took hold of her arm.

“Why did you propose she stay?” It was his first question.

She gaped at him in surprise. “I thought it polite,” she explained defensively. “I really didn’t expect she would like to sleep on the couch. It’s not very comfortable and rather small.”

“Tomorrow, I’ll check her into a nice hotel,” he announced firmly. “We can’t allow her to stay here forever.”

“Forever? Jake, it’s only one night, besides she’s your mother,” Amy said, confused. “You’re exaggerating.”

“Sweetheart, I know she’s my mother, and I love her very much and respect her. I’m grateful for all that she did for me, for all the sacrifices she made when raising me, but believe me I know her. And I am a grown man, with a family of my own now. We must set the boundaries now otherwise she will try to live our life, and that can’t be good, neither for her and certainly nor for us.”

Amy glanced at him worriedly. “Won’t she get offended?”

“She won’t, trust me,” he said, before closing himself in the bathroom. Soon Amy heard the water running.

With a weary sigh, Amy lay back on the bed coverlet for a moment, then she remembered leaving her shopping bags in the hall by the front door. She should get them, she thought lazily. The coat would be crumpled folded in the bag for the entire night. Very slowly, she scrambled out of bed opened the door and walked
into the hallway. To her surprise before her eyes appeared her mother in law tiptoeing down the corridor.

“I...is something’s wrong?” Amy asked utterly confused.

Stacy gaped at her for a moment, then laughed unnaturally, her expression clearly embarrassed. “No, it’s just, well, I’m looking for the bathroom.”

Amy frowned. She’d been in the guest bathroom before so she shouldn’t look for it next to their bedroom. “It’s on the other end of the corridor.” Amy pointed with her finger. “It doesn’t have a bathtub, but there’s a small shower in it.”

“Oh, thank you, my dear. Goodnight,” Stacy said quickly, turned back and promptly walked away.

“Goodnight,” Amy whispered back, picking up her bags and returning to the bedroom as Jack was leaving the bathroom.

“What’s wrong?” he asked seeing her bemused expression.

“Nothing, it’s just...” Amy frowned. “I walked outside because I remembered I left my shopping bags by the front door.” She showed him the bags. “And I saw your mum there. She was behaving a bit strange, standing just outside our bedroom. She said she was looking for the bathroom. But it doesn’t make any sense, because she’s been in the guest bathroom before, hasn’t she?”

“Fuck,” he muttered under his breath.

“Jake!” Amy gasped in surprise.

He drew her to him, kissing her forehead. It was nice to feel his warm, slightly wet chest against her cheek. “Sorry sweetheart. But I’m pretty sure she’s been doing a bit of spying.”

Amy’s eyes widened. “You mean she’s spying on us?”

He shook his head and sighed. “No, more likely trying to overhear whether we are making a grandchild for her.”

“No,” Amy breathed.

Jake growled. “Oh, yes.”

“Perhaps it’s not that bad an idea with that hotel,” Amy murmured dryly, stepping away from him to her closet.

“Told you.” He came behind her. “You’ve gone shopping today?” he asked, putting on his t-shirt, “Show me what you bought?” He glanced at the bags she brought.

She turned to him, surprised by his interest. “Just some clothes,” she said reluctantly, trying to stuff the huge bag containing her new coat into the closet.

“Come on, show me,” he coaxed her.