The Unknown Woman (15 page)

When Matt returned to the living room, she was standing by a side table, waiting. She noticed he’d
changed from the casual jeans he’d arrived in to dress slacks and a muted plaid shirt of blue and tan. He carried a tweedy sports jacket of heather blues and browns draped over his shoulder and held by a finger. Oh, but he was the handsomest man she’d ever seen.

“Ready?” she asked.

He nodded. “I’m with you, kid,” he said in the tone of a hard-boiled movie detective.

They smiled and simply stood there for an enchanted moment, staring at each other.

He was the first to move. “After you.” He held her winter parka while she slipped it on, then opened the door to the frosty winter chill.

To her, the evening air felt as balmy as it had in New Orleans last month. She drove them to her parents’ home, still not sure she wasn’t imagining all this. Several cars were already in the drive when they arrived.

“Happy birthday,” her relatives shouted when she and Matt arrived at the door.

Her grandparents were there, her sister and her family, her aunts and uncles, several cousins and their children.

Kerry glanced at Matt and relaxed. He was perfectly at ease in a mob scene. She grinned and squeezed his arm.

He gave her a wink and calmly shook hands as she introduced him to twenty-three of her closest relatives.

“Let’s eat,” her nephew suggested after the introductions. “Then we can get to the cake and ice cream.”

From that moment, the evening became a blur of laughter, stories—mostly about her and Sharon’s exploits—delicious food, and finally the cake and ice cream.

There were presents of jewelry and clothing and handmade knitted scarves, plus a tiny diorama of a nature scene from her nephew and two nieces, composed of a bird’s egg in a tiny nest, twigs for trees, dried seeds and pebbles for landscaping, all glued to a round cedar plank.

Matt gave her a sterling silver charm with gold accents. She recognized it as the Hotel Marchand.

“Ohh,” she said, then couldn’t say another word as he snapped it onto her bracelet. When the evening started to wind down, she found she was ready to go home. She thanked her relatives for a wonderful birthday with hugs and good wishes for them all.

“I’ll help with the dishes,” she told her mom.

“You’ll do no such thing,” her mom retorted, shooing her out of the kitchen. “It’s your birthday …well, on Wednesday, but we wanted to celebrate when everyone could be here.”

“I know.” Kerry threw her arms around her mother. “It was a super birthday dinner, Mom.”

They held each other for a moment, then her mother said, “Go home with your young man. I think he wants to have you to himself.”

Anticipation rose in Kerry. She laughed. “I think I want to have him to myself, too.”

Her mother touched her cheek before they rejoined Matt in the living room. “Be happy, darling.”

“I will. I am,” Kerry assured her.

She and Matt headed home just as a light snow started falling. “Good timing,” she told him.

“I agree.” He paused. “I liked your family. Your parents made me feel very welcome in their home. And it was nice meeting Sharon face-to-face after talking to her on the phone this week.”

“I think I detect some collusion going on between you two,” she accused, thinking of her hair and makeup and the outfit that her sister had insisted she wear.

“Uh-huh,” he agreed, but wouldn’t confess to more.

At her house, she saw it wasn’t quite eleven by the wall clock. That seemed a little early for bed on a Saturday night. She turned on the gas logs in the fireplace.

“Would you like some hot cider?” she asked.

Matt shook his head. “Come sit by me.”

Feeling a bit startled, she went to the sofa and sat down, careful not to crowd him. When he kicked off his shoes, she did, too.

“This is cozy,” he murmured.

“Yes.” She could barely get the word out. Nervous, she tucked her feet under her and leaned into the corner of the sofa, farther from him than she liked, but safer. She didn’t want to seem pushy in case this visit was
more casual than she hoped. She sensed currents flowing between them and wanted him to lift her into his lap as he’d usually done in New Orleans when they were alone.

“I have another present for you,” he said after a long moment.

“Really? I can’t imagine what else you could get that would please me more than this,” she said, fingering the hotel charm on her bracelet. “Plus the other charms you’ve already given me.”

“Can’t you, Kerry?” He gazed into her eyes for an eternity, then lifted his hand and opened his palm. “Can’t you imagine this?”

She stared at the ring—a diamond mounted in an intricate gold setting. “Matt, is that…”

“An engagement ring? Yes. I hope you’ll accept it. Will you?”

To her amazement, he dropped to one knee in front of her.

“Will you marry me and make me the happiest man on earth?” he asked.

Tears filled her eyes. When she lifted her left hand, he had no difficulty slipping the ring on. Once it was in place, he kissed her finger as if making a pledge to all the ring stood for.

“I can’t believe this,” she said, throwing her arms around his neck. “I didn’t dare think that more would come from our time together than friendship and fond memories of our stay in New Orleans.”

He got up, then settled on the sofa, lifting Kerry onto his lap, exactly where she longed to be. She nuzzled her face into his neck and sprinkled a thousand kisses everywhere she could reach.

“It was a wrench when you left,” he told her. “I wasn’t ready to give you up. I don’t think I’ll ever be ready for that. I love you. You know that, don’t you?”

Cupping his beloved face in her hands, she stared into his eyes and saw only truth and sincerity. She nodded solemnly. “I love you, too, but I was afraid to admit it. It would hurt too much if you didn’t love me back.”

“I do, so that’s settled,” he said in great satisfaction.

The wall clock chimed midnight. “The witching hour,” she murmured. “Matt?”

“Yes, darling?”

“If we marry, where shall we live?”

“
When
we marry,” he corrected firmly, “I thought we could spend most of the year here. I’ll keep my condo and we can go to New York for the fall. We’ll have a wonderful time. We’ll catch the new plays, then drive up to New England for the autumn color. In the spring, we’ll go to Washington for the cherry blossoms. There’s a whole world for us to explore.”

“What about your writing?”

“I’ve finished the latest article and have started my new book. I’ll work on it most of this year. When you can take off, we’ll go to France and visit some of my favorite wineries there. Otherwise, I’ll only need to
travel briefly for research. I’ll be home so much, you’ll be glad to get me out of the house once in a while.”

She sat up and gave him an indignant glare. “I’ll never grow tired of having you with me.”

“I hope not. I plan to be around for a long time. Like seventy years or so.”

That made her laugh. “When did you realize, that is…when did…”

“I know that I was madly in love with you?” he finished for her.

“Yes.”

“Honey, you had me from the moment you came to my door to help me out.”

In the flickering light from the fireplace, she noticed, just before they kissed, the sparkle from her new ring and the warmth that encircled her wrist as the charm bracelet absorbed the glow of the flames. Magic whirled through the room, around them and dipped right down into her heart.

“Patti told me to follow the shining path that would lead from Twelfth Night to the summer solstice,” she murmured to Matt. “Part of me wants to be married as soon as possible, but another part wants to wait until June and the beginning of summer.”

“We can wait,” he said, love and understanding in his eyes.

“Oh, Matt,” she whispered and hugged him as tightly as she could.

Much later, from her bedroom window, they looked
out at the shimmering silver path of moonlight on fresh snow that led toward the horizon and beyond, to forever. Kerry’s heart filled to overflowing.

Thank you, Patti, Queen Patrice, my-friend-for-a-day, for showing us the way.