Fine Things
Page 39
He looked her straight in the eye. “I told him I was opening my own store. In the Napa Valley.”
If it was possible, she looked even more stunned as he beamed proudly at her. “Are you serious or crazy, Bernie Fine?”
“Both. But more about that later. First, there's something I want to show you.” And he still had to tell her about the house he had just bought, to house their store. But there was something else he wanted to show her first. He had picked it out with enormous care and thought after he left the office. He handed her a small gift-wrapped box, which she eyed with more than a little suspicion.
“What's that?”
“A very, very small black widow spider. Be careful when you open the box.” He was laughing like a boy and her hands trembled as she fought with the wrapping and then found herself holding a black velvet box from a well-known international jeweler.
“Bernie, what is this?”
He stood very close to her and gently touched her silky black hair and spoke so softly that only she could have heard him. “This, my love, is the beginning of a lifetime.” He snapped the box open for her and she gasped as she saw the handsome emerald ring surrounded by small diamond baguettes. It was a beautiful ring, a beautiful stone, and the emerald had seemed just right for her. He hadn't wanted to get her a ring like the one he'd bought Liz. This was a whole new life. And now he was ready for it. And when he looked at her, there were tears sliding slowly down her cheeks, and she cried as he put it on and then kissed her. “I love you. Will you marry me, Meg?”
“Why are you doing all this? Quitting your job …proposing …deciding to open a store …you can't make decisions like that in one afternoon. That's crazy.”
“I've been making them for months, and you know it. I just took a long time before I did anything about it, and now it's time.”
She looked up into his eyes with joy and a little fear. He was a man well worth waiting for, but it hadn't been simple. “What about Jane?”
“What about her?” Bernie looked startled.
“Don't you think we should ask her first?”
He looked suddenly frightened but Megan insisted.
“She has to adjust to what we want.”
“I think we have to tell her before it's a fait accompli,” and after a ten-minute discussion, Bernie agreed to go upstairs and discuss it with her, but he was afraid that she wasn't ready.
“Hi.” He smiled at her nervously and she sensed something strange about him instantly as they walked into the room, and she could still see the tears on Megan's eyelashes.
“Something wrong?” She looked worried but Megan was quick to shake her head.
“Nope. We want your advice about something.” She was concealing her left hand in the pocket of her white coat, so Jane didn't see the ring first.
“Like what?” Jane looked intrigued and as though she suddenly felt very important. And she was. To both of them.
Megan looked at Bernie and he moved closer to Jane and reached for her hand as he stood next to the bed. “Megan and I want to get married, sweetheart, and we want to know how you feel about it.” There was a long, pregnant silence in the room as Bernie held his breath and Jane looked at both of them and then smiled slowly as she lay back against her pillows.
“And you asked me first?” They both nodded and she grinned. This was terrific. “Wow. That's really something.” Even her mother hadn't done that, but she didn't tell Bernie.
“Well, what do you think?”
“I think it's okay …” She smiled at Megan. “No … I think it would be pretty nice really.” All three of them grinned and Jane started to giggle. “Are you gonna give her a ring, Daddy?”
“I just did.” He fished Megan's hand out of her pocket. “But she wouldn't say yes, till you did.” Jane shot a glance at Megan that said they were friends forever for that one.
“Are we gonna have a big wedding?” Jane inquired and Megan laughed.
“I haven't even thought of that. So much happened today.”
“You can say that again.” He told Jane about leaving Wolffs, and then he told them both about the house he was buying to open his store in. They both stared at him in amazement.
“You're really going to do it, Daddy? Open the store, and we'll move to Napa and everything?” Jane clapped her hands in excitement.
“I sure am.” He grinned at both his ladies and sat down on one of the chairs provided for visitors. “I even thought of a name for it on the drive up here.”
Both of his ladies waited expectantly. “I was thinking about both of you, and Alexander, and all the good things that have happened lately …the fine moments in my life, and then it came to me.” Megan slipped her hand into his, and he could feel the emerald on her finger and it pleased him as he smiled at her and then at his daughter. “I'm going to call it 'Fine Things.' What do you think of that?”
“I love it.” Megan smiled happily at him and Jane squealed with delight. She didn't even mind being stuck in the hospital now, so many good things were happening to them.
“Can I be a bridesmaid at the wedding, Meg? Or flower girl or something?” There were tears in Megan's eyes as she smiled at her and nodded, and then Bernie leaned over and kissed his bride.
“I love you, Megan Jones.”
“I love all three of you,” she whispered, glancing from father to daughter, and including Alexander. “And Fine Things is a beautiful name…. Fine Things …” It was a fitting description of all that had happened to him since he'd met her.
a cognizant original v5 release october 14 2010
FINE THINGS
A Dell Book
Published by
Bantam Dell
A Division of Random House, Inc.
New York, New York
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents
either are the product of the author's imagination or are used
fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead,
events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved
Copyright © 1987 by Danielle Steel
Dell is a registered trademark of Random House, Inc., and the
colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc.
eISBN: 978-0-307-56644-7
www.bantamdell.com
v3.0