Beauty and the Brain
Page 33
“What?” He didn’t understand her question. “No. I mean, yes. I mean, what does science have to do with anything?”
She rolled her eyes. “Nothing. But why can’t I love you? Is such a thing so impossible?”
“Yes.” Colin started feeling a wee bit more cheerful. “I mean, no. It’s not—well, it seems impossible, but I don’t suppose there’s any hard-and-fast biological or physiological canon against such a thing occurring. Stranger behaviors have been manifested in animal life before this, I’m sure. Like, say, cats nursing rabbit babies and so forth.”
“Good God.” She leaned back and stared at him as if he were a rare and peculiar subspecies of the genus Homo sapiens. Homo idioticus, perhaps.
“But—but—but—” Colin stopped stammering, drew in a breath, swallowed, and fumbled forward. “I mean, you can’t love me. I’m just a stupid scholar.”
She tilted her head to, one side and studied his face, clearly puzzled.
“What I mean to say,” he slogged on, “is that I can’t believe that you, of all people, could possibly love me, of all people!’
“Why not?”
Why not? Why not? Good question. “But—but—I’m so—so—stuffy.”
She nodded. Not encouraging, that.
“And I treated you so badly.”
Another nod.
“And—and—” Suddenly, the dam holding back his emotions burst, and he cried out, “And I love you more than life itself!” He didn’t even qualify his sensational statement with scientific theories about how such a state of being was impossible to achieve.
“You do?”
“God, yes. And I knew you’d never marry me, so I didn’t even think to ask you.”
“Really? How odd.”
“But—but— Dash it, Brenda, if you love me, and I love you, why can’t we get married?”
“I can’t think of a single reason.”
“You can’t?” Colin stared at her, bewildered.
She shook her head.
He swallowed. “Would you mind living in Los Angeles? That’s where my job is.”
“Not at all. I’ve been wanting to retire for a long time now.”
“And you won’t mind being married to a professor?”
“Gosh, no. As long as you promise to practice your lectures on me.”
“Honestly?”
“Honestly. And you won’t mind if I buy a big house for us with a huge library and a billion books?”
“Heavens, no. I’m not one of those men who resent the success of women.”
“Glad to hear it.” There was a distinct twinkle in her eyes now.
Colin, still scarcely able to believe this was happening, swallowed once more, cleared his throat, and took one last chance. “So—so, will you marry me?”
“You bet I will.”
Colin barely heard the whoops and cheers that went up from the Peerless folks when he and Brenda kissed each other.
George acted as his brother’s best man at the wedding. Martin presented the happy couple with a complete set of Shakespeare as a wedding gift.
Brenda and Colin, who moved Brenda’s mother to Los Angeles, built a fabulous estate on Sunset Boulevard. Colin was soon one of the most popular professors on the new university campus. Brenda was as happy as a cat in a cream pot with her big library and her books.
They were both delighted that their three sons and two daughters possessed both beauty and brains.