The Rising: Antichrist Is Born (28 page)

It didn’t sound like her, for one thing. In all their talks and all the counsel she had offered him, he had not detected a proclivity for making a mistake like this. On the other hand, why did he have to assume it was such a mistake? Maybe both those wives of Olsson’s had been shrews, and he had just been unlucky. Maybe he deserved a quality woman like Irene.

What was Ray thinking? That one date was going to lead to marriage? He was driving himself nuts with this, and he didn’t even know why. Ray had an hour before he was supposed to pick up Kitty, so he surfed the Internet until he found regulations for dating between
ROTC
commanders and plebes. There was a technicality. Irene was not officially signed up as a scholarship student, committed to going on to military school. That made her a civilian and provided the loophole. Apparently the military could not tell Olsson—and especially Irene—what they could do on their own time.

The whole thing preoccupied Ray and later apparently made him seem distant to Kitty. She kept asking what was wrong, so he finally told her.

“Dowdy Irene?” she said. “Well, hey, good for her, you know?”

“No, I don’t. How do we know it’s good for her to be seeing an old guy like that?”

“Who else is she going to see, Ray? I mean, come on. Her name alone would turn most guys off.”

“Like she had ;my control over that. It’s some kind of family name, and she doesn’t seem bothered by it.”

“Please,” Kitty said. “If I was stuck with a moniker like that, I’d have changed it in the driveway before I left for college.”

“Apparently so, Katherine.”

“Well, I changed that long ago. Katherine was old-fashioned the day I was born, but Irene} That’s been out since my grandparents’ days. A woman can decide what she wants to be called.”

“She must be okay with Irene,” Ray said.

“Well, like I say, good for her.”

Ray still wasn’t so sure, precisely because Kitty was on the other side of this. Anything that looked good from her perspective had problems written all over it.

Kitty rushed ahead of him as they walked and turned to face him, walking backward. “You know what I want to do tonight, Ray?”

“Pray tell.”

“Look at rings.”

“You do?”

“Can we, please?”

He shrugged. “Why not?”

Actually, Ray could think of a lot of reasons why not. He had not asked her to marry him yet, and with each passing day he was less sure he wanted to. Kitty had a habit of getting her way, and here was the first step on another slippery slope.

“Oh, thank you!” she said, rejoining him and wrapping one of his arms in hers. “I have several you can choose from, and they all match my dress.”

“Your dress? You have a dress already?”

“Well, no, but ordered.”

“You’ve ordered your wedding dress?”

“I didn’t want to lose it. I saw it in a magazine and knew I had to have it. All my bridesmaids agree it’s perfect.”

“Your bridesmaids?”

“Well, I know who they’ll be. I haven’t told them all yet, but—”

“And do you have a date picked out too?”

“Well, we’re thinking about next summer, aren’t we?”

“Apparently you are.”

“Oh, Ray, don’t be this way! Let’s enjoy this. It’s the most special time of our lives.”

Yours maybe.

They got to a small, exclusive jewelry store in West Lafayette, and the assistant manager—who insisted Ray call him Billy—greeted Kitty by name. That couldn’t be good.

“You’re right that marquises are making a comeback,” Billy said, sliding out a case of selections. “Notice how these complement the picture you showed me.”

Ray glared at her. This stranger had seen the picture of her wedding dress? Kitty quickly pulled a folded picture from her purse and spread it on the counter for Ray. He had to admit it was gorgeous and would look perfect on her. He could not believe the price, and she must have sensed it. “My dads are splitting the costs,” she said.

The marquise selections were monstrous, with prices to match. The least expensive ring was more than three times what Ray expected to pay, if and when he ever made such a commitment. He tried to hide his discomfort, but Kitty could apparently

read his quietness. “Nothing would make me happier than this one,” she said, slipping on a two-and-a-half-carat stone.

It was all Ray could do to keep from swearing. “That’s half my starting salary if I got a job flying jumbo jets tomorrow,” he said. “And we both know I’m a few years from that.”

“Oh, Ray! We can make it work. This is important to me. Please, sugar bear?”

Sugar bear? Sugar daddy was more like it. There was not a chance.

“Let me see something in more of this price range,” Ray said, surreptitiously jotting down a figure and handing it to Billy.

Kitty leaned to see it, but Ray pulled her away. “You’re not supposed to know,” he said.

  The assistant manager raised his eyebrows and quickly scanned the display cases. “I may have something in the back. But probably not in a marquise.”

“Make sure it’s a marquise,” Ray said. “Even if you have to order it.”

Kitty was already turning colors. She pulled her hand from Ray’s arm and jammed it in her pocket, moving toward the watch case and busying herself there. “I’m not going to be happy with something other than what I showed you,” she said.

“Something less, you mean.”

“Well, yeah. You wouldn’t want to embarrass me, would you?”

Embarrassing her was sounding better all the time.

Billy took so long in the back that Ray took it as a statement. No way it would take that much time to find a more reasonably priced ring.

Billy finally emerged with one ring to show. It still looked large to Ray, but it was slightly less than a carat. Billy seemed to be trying to put the best face on it, but he was clearly repulsed. “It’s actually a high-quality stone,” he said, “for its size.”

“It’s beautiful,” Ray said. “Kitty, look.”

“In a minute,” she said.

Billy filled time by polishing the ring until Kitty moseyed over, obviously wary. He held it under the light, but she did not reach for it. “The band isn’t the right color anyway,” she said.

“We could easily reset it,” Billy said.

“No doubt. It’s cute; I’ll say that. But it won’t do.”

Ray couldn’t control himself. This time he did swear. Kitty turned her back and pretended to study another display case.

“All right then,” Billy said. “Why don’t you two talk it over and tell me what you’d like. I can order other pieces, design something just for you, match something you see in a catalog, whatever.”

“You have the ring I want,” Kitty said, “and Ray knows what it is.”

  “I sure do.”

“We do have creative payment plans,” Billy said, “and we can find ways to work with virtually any budget. Let me show you, with no obligation.”

“No, I don’t think—”

“No obligation, Ray!” Kitty said. “What could be the harm? At least hear him out. Maybe he can make it easy for you to make me happy.”

That’ll be the day. But Ray didn’t want to appear unreasonable.

“This’ll just take a moment,” Billy said, and he pointed Ray to a chair. As they sat, Kitty stood behind Ray and massaged his shoulders. No pressure there. Billy produced a laminated chart and ran his finger along a column, stopping at the retail price of the ring. “If you can see your way clear to putting 10 percent down, which we can take via credit card—but we would have to tack on a fee, so you might want to do that by check—here would be your monthly payments for six years.”

Ray shook his head and heard Kitty sigh.

“A larger down payment,” Billy said, “say 20 percent, would result in this monthly figure.”

“Still beyond me,” Ray said.

“You don’t know that!” Kitty said. “You can come up with that. Your dad would lend it to you. My dad would. Even my stepdad, if necessary. And then with a little sacrifice, cutting out a few things every month—”

“Yeah, like a car payment.”

“—and this would be hard only until you got the job you wanted.”

“Even 5 percent down would let you take the ring with you tonight,” Billy said.

“No, I—”

“Really?! Oh, Ray! If I could show this to the girls tonight, it would be the happiest moment of my life!”

Billy smiled. “Write me a check for 5 percent. We run your card through and set it up to trigger another 15 percent sixty days from now—you’d have no payments until thirty days after that—and then you begin paying monthly. Doesn’t get any easier

than that.”

“Oh, Ray! I can’t tell you how much this would mean to me!” She leaned close and whispered in his ear, “But I’ll try to show you later.”

Billy put the chart in a drawer and said, “Certainly, sir. Just know we’re here to serve your needs whenever you are ready.”

“How late are you open?” Kitty said.

“I’ll be here until ten. Listen, if knocking the down payment to 4 percent would help get it done, I could make that happen. The card would then be dinged for 16 percent in two months.”

“That’s not it,” Ray began. “I’ll—”

“Ray, 4 percent! That’s nothing.”

  “Not tonight.”

Kitty stormed out.

“Sorry,” Ray said.

“Not a problem,” Billy said. “At least you know the price of making her happy.” Truer words were never spoken. “I suspect you’ll be back.”

When he arrived, she was weeping quietly. He sat next to her and thought he heard her hold her breath, as if to hear whether he had anything to say for himself. He didn’t. He put a hand on her shoulder until she wrenched away.

“Is it so much to ask, Ray? Did you not bring your checkbook, or what?”

“Of course I didn’t. I don’t carry it with me.”

“Well, I have mine.”

“You want to buy your own ring?”

“You could pay me back! It’s only 4 percent.”

“It’s 4 percent of a lot.”

“Apparently I’m not worth it.”

He was beginning to think so.

  “Let me write the check, Ray. Then you can pay me back and not have any payments for three months. And if you need me to ask my dad or my stepdad—”

“No! If we do this, I’ll handle it.”

“Oh, Ray! I love you! I love you!”

Yeah, it sounds like it.

“It’ll be the greatest thing that ever happened to me!”

Ray couldn’t believe he was considering this. What was it about this girl that held such sway over him? She had put him in a position where what he did made all the difference in the world to her. He could make her happy with one, albeit expensive, word.

“Please, Ray! I’ll never ask for another thing—ever. I’ll check every purchase with you for the rest of our lives, and I’ll go without whatever we need until we’re on our feet. Please, sweetie?”

“And you just happened to bring your checkbook.”

“I always do, Ray.”

“You’re sure this is what you really want… ?”

She leaped off the bench, bouncing and squealing. He so wished she had said, “I don’t want to badger you into it. I want this only when you’re ready and excited about it.” But that wasn’t on her mind in the least, as far as he could tell. She bad badgered him into it, and she didn’t care what he thought about it now. It was a done deal. She grabbed his hand and yanked him off the bench, running back to the store with him in tow.

Ray knew he looked sheepish when they burst in, but Billy—who had apparently seen all this before—was already polishing Kitty’s ring. “I had a feeling,” he said. “You want it boxed and bagged, or—?”

Ray felt on the brink of an abyss, and he came very close to simply ending the whole deal, not just the ring transaction but also the entire relationship. Despite her promises, this was what his life was going to be if he stayed with this woman. “Changed my mind,” he imagined himself saying. “I don’t want to do this. Not tonight. Not ever. It’s over.”

But Kitty stood there admiring her ring, turning it under the spotlight so the diamond flashed and radiated.

“Did you want to handle the down payment with a check, sir, so we wouldn’t have to tack on a surcharge, or…?”

Ray pulled out his credit card and looked to Kitty, expecting her to explain that she would be writing the check for the down payment. But she said nothing. And he was not about to ask her. “Put it all on here,” he said.

  “You realize we add a—”

Ray didn’t say a word all the way back to Kitty’s sorority house. He didn’t have to. She was in a zone, unable to stand still, unable to keep her hands off him. She stopped him at every corner and planted a wet one on him, continually reminding him that she was prepared to make good on her promise to reward him—that very night. All Ray could think of was that he had taken pride in never before having paid for sex. So what, now he was engaged to a high-priced… There was nothing he

wanted less than to sleep with her tonight.

At the corner with her house in view, he stopped. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Are you sure? But—”

“I’m sure, Kitty. You enjoy your sisters’ reactions and say nice things about me.” It may be the last time.

“Oh, I will!” she said. “Bet on that! You’re going to be the hit of the place. And I’ll show it to everybody tomorrow too.”

He walked back to his dorm, and all he wanted was to talk with Irene. He called her room and was surprised she was

already home. “Didn’t go well?” he said.

“Actually no, it didn’t,” she said.

“Olsson behaved himself, I hope.”

“Oh, yeah. Perfect gentleman.”

Ray laughed. “That’s why it didn’t go well? You were hoping to be ravished?”

“Hardly. I’ll tell you about it sometime.”

“How about tonight?”

“I’m game if you are, Rafe. Sure you’re up to it?”

“I’ve got a story for you too.”

“You do?”

“Yup. I’m engaged.”

“You’re kidding.”

“Ring and all. But I might not be by tomorrow.”

“This I’ve got to hear.”

“Listen, Irene, tell me you’ll never go out with the commander again and I’ll break up with Kitty for you. Deal?”

There was silence just long enough for Ray to worry he had insulted her. “Yeah,” she said finally, chuckling. “That’s all I need. You on the rebound. Tell you what; you come to your senses and dump Rich Girl, prove you mean it by staying single a couple of months, and I’ll consider your application.”