Tessa McDermid - Family Stories (20 page)

She stood there, the phone in her hand, until Susan took it from her and hung it up. The two girls maneuvered her back down the hal and into their room.

"That was Richard." She couldn't stop smiling. "We're going out tomorrow night."

"Real y?" Susan pushed her onto the floor and picked up the nailbrush. "Then we need to make you beautiful.

And I don't know if we're going to have enough time."

"What?" She glanced into their laughing faces. Giggling, she pelted Susan on the leg, with a pil ow. Barb joined in and they laughingly pummeled each other until they were breathless.

Barb plopped down on the floor. "Okay, that was fun. Now we have serious business. What are you going to wear tomorrow?"

By six-thirty Saturday night, she'd tried on five different blouses, changed her skirt twice and discarded four pairs of shoes. "What do you think?" she asked, standing in the middle of the clothes-strewn room.

"You're beautiful." Susan twisted a curl around her finger. "Your hair's so pretty. It's red but not that carroty red.

And these curls are gorgeous." She flicked a finger at her own straight fal of dark hair.

"I can thank my mother for the curls but not the color." Anne inspected herself in the mirror, smoothing several curls behind her ears. "Dad says that's the picture he'll always remember, the sun on Mom's golden curls. I don't know how I ended up with red hair."

"Quit fishing for compliments. Richard's going to drop at your feet when he sees you." Barb held out a sweater.

"As long as he doesn't pass out. "The somersaults in her stomach hadn't subsided and she only hoped she wouldn't be the one to faint.

When the buzzer sounded, they al jumped. Barb and Susan walked her to the end of the hal , pushing her through the door into the common lounge. "Good luck," Barb whispered. "And have a great rime."

He stood by the check-in counter, striding over when he saw her. "You look very pretty," he said.

"So do you," she responded.

She realized what she'd said and felt her skin heat. That was the disadvantage of being a redhead, she thought bitterly. You blushed so easily.

His laugh was as attractive as his voice and it immediately relaxed her. "Thank you. No one ever said I was pretty before."

"Wel , first time for everything. Shal we go?"

The evening passed quickly and delightful y. She was a soprano and he sang a deep bass. Twice the leader started a song unfamiliar to Richard and he amused her by singing sil y words into her ear, his breath tickling the fine hairs of her neck.

They headed back to the dorm a few minutes before Lights Out. When a breeze suddenly sprang up, she shivered in her sweater, and Richard draped his jacket around her shoulders, his fingers lightly touching her arms.

He halted just outside the glow cast by the dorm light. Anne stood stil , hardly able to breathe. Would he kiss her? No one would ever mistake her for a fast woman, but the thought of his lips on hers...

"I had a great time." His voice was husky.

"So did I. Thank you for inviting me." She handed him back his jacket.

Their fingers met. The somersaults were coming in waves, brought on by his eyes gazing at her so intently, the musky smel of his cologne, the uneven stutter of his breath.

"Could we go out again?" His words were a whisper in the shadows.

She nodded, not sure she could trust her voice. He stepped closer, his lips grazing hers, and walked away.

Humming one of the sil y songs he'd sung for her, she floated into her room. Susan leaned over the side of her bed. "So?"

Anne sighed. "He is such a gentleman."

"He didn't kiss her," Barb said knowingly.

Anne raised one eyebrow. "He did kiss her!" Susan squealed.

"A tiny one." Anne frowned. "You don't suppose he'll think I'm fast, do you?"

Barb hopped out of bed and hugged her. "No. You're too fragile and delicate to be fast." She giggled. "Oh, I bet you've got a boyfriend now."

She was right. Anne and Richard were inseparable during the next two months. He walked her to class. She waited for him at meals.

They were often at the library together, his dark head and her red curls bent over a book. She cheered for him at footbal games. They walked into town for movies or hot chocolate with friends.

"So, has he asked you yet?" Barb asked one evening in November.

Anne looked up from the book she was reading. Lights Out was in ten minutes, and she was cramming in a few more pages for tomorrow's history test.

"Asked what?"

"Oh, Anne, don't be dense. Has he proposed?"

She frowned at Susan in surprise. "Of course not. We've only been dating for a few months."

Barb and Susan exchanged glances. "Anne, dear, the whole campus expects an announcement any day."

"Lights out!" the housemother shouted.

Anne turned off her desk light and crawled into bed.

"You can't silence us so easily," Barb muttered.

Anne curled up with her pil ow. "We're friends, that's al ." It wasn't al . There'd been kisses that made her spine tingle. Shared smiles that caused her breath to catch. But she wasn't ready to consider marriage. She had a whole world stil to see.

She went home for Thanksgiving, grateful for some time away from the intensity of her friends and their desire to see her married by spring. She liked Richard and she liked spending time with him. But marriage was for the future. The distant future.

Wednesday night she organized receipts at the shop. Her mother did the office work while her father ran the repair department. "Your mom's been training the staff in Des Moines," Frank said, handing her a folder. "I'll be glad when she's working here again."

Stuffing the turkey on Thursday morning she told her mother about her classes. She rol ed out pie crust and enthral ed her sisters with funny stories. She answered her father's questions about campus activities while they feasted on turkey and stuffing, mashed potatoes, fresh green beans, Waldorf salad, al the special trimmings she remembered from every Thanksgiving they'd celebrated over the years.

"No boyfriends?" her father asked after the meal had been eaten, the dishes carried into the kitchen.

"I'm not there for dating," she said, her stomach giving a guilty lurch.

"I'm glad to hear that." Marian patted Frank's hand. "I don't regret a minute of my life with your father but you don't have to rush into anything. Once you have children, you won't have a chance to see the world."

Anne nodded, determined to slow things down with Richard.

The first weekend in December, he invited her to dinner. They hadn't seen each other much after Thanksgiving; she'd invented excuse after excuse not to be with him. But her imagination had failed her that afternoon and she'd reluctantly accepted his invitation.

As they walked to the single nice restaurant in the smal town, he apologized for not having a car.

"I don't mind," she said. "It's a beautiful night."

The sky was fil ed with stars, and the snow shone bright and clean in the evening fight. They crunched through the drifts, the sound of their footsteps accented by the swoosh of snow fal ing from the branches around them.

They talked quietly. Anne's heart pounded when he took her gloved hand, tucking it in his pocket, his hand curled possessively around hers.

She enjoyed dinner. Richard's views on life were intriguing and he was an attentive listener, focusing on her words, his lips curved in a smile that often made her forget what she was saying.

Leaving the restaurant, Anne turned toward the campus.

"Let's walk to the park." One hand on her elbow, he steered her in the opposite direction.

I lie smal park was set back from the street. Richard led her to the lone bench and dusted off the snow that had gathered on its stone seat.

He waited for her to sit down, then sat at the other end. His face was more serious than she'd ever seen it and he wouldn't meet her eyes.

He picked up her hand, wiggling her fingers back and forth.

Anne, it's only been a few months... "He paused and she waited, her lips suddenly dry. "I just..."Another long pause. "I just knew when I saw you that you were the one."

He slipped an arm around her shoulders, facing her for the first nine since they'd sat down. "I don't know how to say this in fancy words. Al I know is that I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I—" He swallowed.

"Wil you marry me, Anne Robertson?"

Snowflakes fluttered onto his hair. His eyes were dark in the moonlight. I'm sorry, Mama, she thought. I can't let him go. And I can't stop what's happening between us.

She gently reached up with her free hand and traced the shape of his jaw, the curve of his cheek, the straight line of his nose, with her gloved finger.

"Do you think our son will have your nose or mine?" she whispered. "And I do hope he has your hair."

Richard stared at her and then her hand was crushed between them as he kissed her. When they raised their heads for air, she rustled against his shoulder, her hand running lightly over his jaw.

"So, is that a yes?" he asked after another long kiss.

She straightened her hood. "Of course it is! Do you think I kiss every boy I date?"

His laughter echoed in the glittering night. "From now on you wil . Because I'll be the only one you date."

They laughed, kicking snow as they walked home. Anne stopped partway up the campus hil to make a snowbal . As Richard crested the hil , the snowbal knocked his cap off. Turning, he raced over to her and pushed her into the snow. When she caught his leg before he could move away he landed next to her.

"Anne, come on! The doors lock in ten minutes!" At Susan shouted warning, they jumped to their feet and ran the rest of the way, Anne's hand firmly held in his.

Her housemother stood in the doorway, waiting for last minute arrivals. Richard pul ed Anne against his side.

"Stil sure? he whispered.

She patted his cheek. "For always."

Barb was already snuggled under the covers when Susan and Anne hurried into the room. "Wouldn't you say there's something different about our Annie?" Susan asked.

Barb peered at Anne. "I saw some unusual behavior tonight," Susan went on. "Richard and Anne rol ing around in the snow."

"You two are nuts." Anne draped her wet coat and gloves over the radiator, and steam hissed into the room.

"I'm the same as always."

"No, you're not, "Barb said. "Definitely different."

Barb and Susan continued to tease her as she changed for bed. She sank down on Barb's bunk. "Al right, you win. But it has to be our secret."

"Oh, Anne, he asked you!" Barb shrieked.

"Shh." Anne shuddered, expecting the entire dorm to come rushing in.

"So? Tel al ," Susan said.

"Wel , he asked me at the park."

"The park? But it's freezing out there! Why didn't he ask you at the restaurant?" Barb scooted over so they could settle more comfortably against the wal .

"Anyone can propose in a restaurant." Richard's choice of a quiet snow-covered park was perfect. She would remember that moment al her life.

"Oh, Annie, we're so happy!" Barb threw both arms around her in a big hug and Susan fol owed suit. "You'll be a beautiful bride."

"And think of those shoulders in a suit!"

Anne whacked Susan on the arm. "Those are my shoulders you're drooling over," she said with a sense of wonder at the thought. The rest of her life with Richard. She was stil smiling when she fel asleep.

The news spread quickly through campus. Congratulations greeted them wherever they went. Impromptu holiday parties also brought a special toast for the newly engaged couple. Susan and Barb claimed that they'd kept their mouths shut, but she'd seen the twinkle in their eyes. Not answering a question could be just as revealing. She planned to tel her parents when she went home during the semester break at Christmas, not wanting to use the phone to share such news.

Christmas vacation arrived al too soon. Richard was returning to his family in Chicago, and Anne had to go home to Lincoln.

"I'll cal on Christmas Day," Richard promised. "I'll tel my parents, and then we can tel your parents together when I visit after New Year's."

"Okay." She sniffed. They were saying goodbye outside her dorm. His bus left at the same time as her train.

"Hey, don't cry." He wiped a tear from her cheek.

She sniffed and managed a watery smile. "You won't forget me, wil you?" Once he was back in the city, would he remember his smal —town girlfriend?

"No! I love you." His kiss left her dazed and wobbly. "We'll shop for a ring when I come through Lincoln."

The whole family met her at the train depot. Margaret had grown tal er but her hair stil flopped in her face.

Alice had let her own hair grow longer, the golden curls of her childhood giving way to the sleeker style of a teenager. They al looked dearer to her than ever, especially now that she knew she'd be leaving them soon.

She swallowed back more tears and hugged them tight.

"Ouch! You're squishing me."

Anne smiled. Alice sounded like herself. Some things didn't change that much.

They celebrated Christmas with the family, opening present! early in the morning before the traditional waffle brunch. She took over for Marian in the shop, giving her mother a few days break, and several times almost told her father about Richard. But she couldn't brave his disappointment alone.

She was cautious around her mother. She'd never been able to keep a secret from her. Marian asked about her life at col ege and after a few tentative replies, Anne realized she could avoid uncomfortable questions by focusing on activities and not people.

"I like my classes," she said. They were mixing the dough for the morning's cinnamon rol s, a treat Marian made each holiday season. "I'm learning a lot of new material."

"You don't study al the time, do you?"

Anne sprinkled flour on the counter. "No, I have friends. In fact, one of them is meeting me here after New Year's so we can go back together."