“Love to,” Drew answered, looking not unlike the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland. Just then Claire appeared at the door.
“Lunch is ready, everyone.” She smiled. “Let's go in.”
We got up and Braden continued to hold my hand as we walked to the dining room. When we sat down his hand found a comfortable resting place on my thigh. There was more chat about the movie and the club that Beth and Drew had visited, but he and I were distracted by other things, like smiling stupidly at each other. Eventually it was Drew again who broke into our happy little reverie.
Yo! Braden, dude! Mom's talking to you! Stop falling in love for a minute and pay attention.”
“Yes?” Braden asked a little tersely.
“I was just letting you know that you'll need to be ready and downstairs by five. And I wanted to let Gabrielle know that we have a hair stylist and a make-up person coming if she'd like to borrow them.”
“Thanks,” I said with a smile. Claire was so nice.
“Fine. Hey Dad?” Braden said to Tyler. “I was wondering if maybe I could talk to you about something later.” Tyler immediately appeared attentive.
“Why can’t you talk to him now?” Drew asked.
“I have some questions I want to ask him.”
“Don’t you think you should have asked him about that last night?” Drew smiled.
“Drew!” Tyler looked at his younger son menacingly. “That would be fine, Braden. Why don't we take a walk after lunch?”
“Gabrielle!” Claire said, smiling brightly. “We should talk more and I would love to show you some baby pictures of Braden.” Drew looked at his mother curiously and then turned to his sister.
“Uh oh, you don't think he got her…” he began quietly to Beth.
“They've only been dating for a week. Didn’t Dad have that talk with you?” Beth cut him off, whispering through clenched teeth with a smile.
When lunch ended Braden reluctantly took his hand off of me and followed his father out of the room. Claire led me back to the parlor as Beth and Drew headed off in their own directions.
“Bye, Gabrielle,” Drew called out with a smile. He was being very exceptionally friendly this morning. Inner-Gabrielle decided that sometimes it was best not to contemplate things too deeply. I made myself comfortable while she settled in and fixed me with a warm happy maternal gaze.
“So Gabrielle, Braden is obviously quite smitten with you. We've never seen him act like this before.”
“Oh.” I smiled. “Well, I'm quite smitten with him too,” I said, a little surprised.
“Let me get those photos. Braden was such a cute little boy.” She got up and walked over to a bookshelf, taking down a thick leather-bound album. For the next forty-five minutes I looked at pictures of the most adorable tow-headed, precocious child I had ever seen in my life, taking his first steps, winning little league awards, earning first place in a spelling bee, starring as Ebenezer Scrooge in the church Christmas play, riding his big boy bike, splitting the atom and conquering small nations.
I felt like a chocolate bar sitting in the sun, all sweet and gooey. I was a goner. I was going to have to marry this guy someday because there was no way I was letting him go. Unless, you know, he really wanted to. Go, that is. I wasn't going to get all Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction and start playing the soundtrack to Madame Butterfly a thousand times and boiling people's bunnies, but I digress…
He and his dad came back in and both of them looked relaxed and happy. I wondered what it was that they had talked about. Braden offered me a tour of the place and I accepted. After seeing adorable little boy Braden I was eager to be touching my big boy Braden again. He seemed to share in that sentiment as he was at my side like a heat-seeking missile.
It was a beautiful, warm, clear day and outside I could see that a huge tent had been set up on the rear lawn. We exited through the French doors at the rear of the house and descended a flight of stairs that led down to a swimming pool and a Jacuzzi. A small pool house stood off to the side not very far from the tent. We walked down and checked out the progress that workers were making with setting up for the fundraiser. Everything looked lovely. Who knew you could do this with a tent? I wished that I could have brought these people with me when I was a Girl Scout forced to participate in Survivor: Camp Louisa in the Catskills.
I saw that a stage had been set up. They would be having an auction that evening and a band would be playing later. I thought that it might turn out to be a fun evening. We strolled back out and across the grounds and then circled around to the front of the house again. Braden gave me a tour of that too. It was really a beautiful home. In addition to the parlor, family room and dining room I had seen, there was a huge kitchen and a cozy library on the first floor. The basement held a work-out room and a game room that had a full private bar and opened out onto a patio by the pool. As I had guessed there were six bedrooms upstairs. The whole place was beautifully decorated with classic pieces and obvious good taste but it still managed to create a warm atmosphere that felt like a family home.
“It's getting late,” he pointed out. “How long will it take you to get ready?”
“Probably no more than an hour. I wanted to get your opinion about whether I should wear my jewelry though. You said that this was formal but I don't want to look like I’m trying too hard.”
“What kind of jewelry did you bring?” He was giving me a curious look.
“My good stuff,” I replied and he looked amused.
“I’m sure it’s fine but I’ll give you my opinion if you want it.”
We went upstairs to his room. Now, in the daylight, when not distracted by other things, I saw that his walls were covered with framed photos of the Harvard rowing team, along with plenty of awards and even a set of oars. Braden really liked boats. I would have to remember that. I went over to my bag and removed the box to a lovely necklace that my mom and dad had given me.
“This was my graduation gift from my parents when I finished law school.” I held it up to show him. I glanced up and saw that he looked a little surprised.
“Are those diamonds?”
“Aren’t they pretty?” I loved seeing the stones sparkle in the light.
“They’re beautiful. You just tossed them in your overnight bag and brought them along?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Just asking.” He gave me a look I couldn’t interpret. “Do your parents worry about you a lot?” he asked out of the blue.