Diamonds and Dreams (20 page)

She
forgot her plans for their moonlight picnic as she drove to the nearest
hamburger joint.
 
Slowly she ate her
French fries and remembered what
Rafe
told her about
how he took Connie out for hamburgers following the party.
 
Staring moodily at the red and white sign
that flashed the name of the restaurant, she grew quiet thinking about
Rafe
.

Brant
must have detected her line of thought.
 
“Want to tell me why
Rafe
came to your house
and the events leading up to him losing control?”

Twirling
the straw in her vanilla milkshake, she provided him with all the details which
spilled out of
Rafe’s
mouth before Brant
arrived.
 
“Think I should tell my parents
how Connie died?”

“That
needs to be
your
decision, Lindsay,
and yours alone.”

“I
fear the truth could hurt them and stir up more painful memories.
 
Dad has high blood pressure, so I won’t
mention anything I learned tonight to them.”

“Why
haven’t I heard you on WBKB during the last several nights?
 
It was my understanding that
Desi
offered you your old job back when he heard that I’ll
go to WQXL.”

I
should’ve known he’d notice I haven’t been on the air lately
, she
thought.
 
It’s time to tell him about the job in New York.

Meeting
his gaze, she informed him, “
Desi
offered me my job
back, and I was prepared to stay at WBKB.
 
Then I received an offer to work at WCIT.”

“WCIT?
 
That station’s in New York.”

“Right.”

He
paused a moment as if he dreaded her answer to his next question.
 
“What will you do?”

“Accept
their offer and move near WCIT.
 
Desi
already knows.
 
That’s why you won’t hear me on WBKB anymore.”

Brant
felt as if she just pushed him off a bridge and he felt himself gasping for air
before his head sank below the murky water.
 
“You didn’t think our relationship was important enough to discuss
something like this with me?”

“I
didn’t believe it was necessary to tell you everything about my professional
life, especially when we haven’t been close lately.”

“Touché.
 
But don’t you see?
 
If you move
away, you won’t give our love a chance.”

“If
we have a strong love, it will survive.”

“Love
can’t develop naturally or grow when two people are miles apart.
 
If we’re away from each other for a long
period, this beautiful feeling that’s between us will eventually fade into only
a pleasant memory.”

“All
I know is that I’m willing to try a long-distance relationship until we can
reach a compromise.”

“Let’s
leave.
 
There are too many people around
here,” he said suddenly, realizing that the car window was open and anyone
passing by could probably hear their conversation.

“You
haven’t finished most of your food.
 
I
thought you said earlier that you’re hungry.”

“Hearing
your plans made me lose my appetite.”

“Brant,
please don’t be this way!”

He
leaned against the
neckrest
and stared into
space.
 
“How do you want me to be,
Lindsay?
 
Thrilled that the woman I want
to marry is about to walk out of my life?”

“Marry?
 
Brant Diamond, are you finally getting around
to proposing to me?” she asked excitedly.

“Yes.
 
That’s why I brought this with me.”
 
He pulled out a burgundy velvet box from his
pocket.
 
As he opened
it and held it up to the light that spilled into the car, she saw an exquisite,
sparkling pear-shaped diamond ring.
 
“I planned to spend a quiet evening alone with you, counting all the
reasons why you should agree to marry me soon.”

“Some
quiet evening!”
 
She picked up
Rafe’s
knife that fell out of Brant’s pocket when he
reached for the ring box.

Still
holding the ring, he asked impatiently, “Well, aren’t you going to at least try
it on?
 
Don’t you know whether or not you
feel like growing old and sitting in our rocking chairs by the fireplace with
me?”

She
took the ring, slipped it on her finger,
then
wrapped
her arms around his neck.
 
“It’s a
perfect fit.
 
Oh, Brant!
 
I don’t know what to say right now except
that I hope we can work everything out between us.”

“
Ooooh
!
 
Watch out for the shoulder.”

“Sorry!”
 
Remembering his wound, she instantly released
him.
 
“Does it still hurt?”

“It
would feel better if you’d say you’ll marry me.”

“All right.
 
I will.”

The
impact of her words prompted him to draw her into his arms so he could kiss her
lovingly on the lips.
 
His arms wrapped
around her tightly as if she walked through the wilderness,
then
stumbled into a steel trap that clamped shut on her.

“Hey!
 
Be careful.
 
Your shoulder,” she warned.

“Forget
the shoulder.
 
Anyway, didn’t I tell you
it would stop hurting so much if you’d accept my proposal?”

Gazing
out the window, Lindsay said in a low voice, “The family in the next car is
staring at us.”

“Probably because they never saw a couple so much in
love until now…until us.”

“Be
serious, Brant.
 
I think we’d better
leave now.
 
It’s not making me happy that
we became the center of attention.”
 
She
took their cardboard tray with scraps of leftover food and stretched to reach
the metal garbage container where she dumped the trash.

“Since
there’s an all-night grocery store located along the way to your house, would
you mind stopping there?” Brant asked when she drove again.
 
“I just remembered an errand I need to do.”

“No
trouble.”

When
they arrived at the store, he instructed her, “Park
under
one of the bright streetlights and lock the car doors.
 
I’ll return shortly.”

She
planned on going inside with him, but when he didn’t ask her to, she remained
in the car.
 
While she waited for him to
return, she listened to the radio.
 
A
commercial came on for a children’s group.
 
Suddenly she looked at her engagement ring and wondered if Brant wanted
children like she did?
 
Only now did she
realize they never discussed the subject!
 
There was still so much they didn’t know about each other, so much left
to be resolved before they’d be ready to take their marriage vows to one
another.
 
Running her fingers over the
smoothly cut diamond, she examined her reasons for saying “yes” to his proposal
without first taking the time to search their souls so they’d know if they were
really right for each other.
 
She was
certain that she loved him, and vice versa, but would that be enough to hold
their marriage together?

He
returned before she noticed him approaching, and when he tapped on the window
for her to unlock the door, he startled her.
 
Opening the door for him, she saw that he carried a long white box with
a purple bow.
 
He’d chosen a grocery
store with a florist shop inside since the regular florists were closed for the
evening.

“These
are for my bride to be.”
 
He handed her
the box.

Before
she even opened it, she knew by the sweet, floral fragrance that he bought her
flowers.
 
Secretly she hoped they
wouldn’t be roses for the roses
Rafe
sent caused her
to associate painful memories with that type of flower.
 
Lifting the lid, she saw a dozen pink
carnations with white baby’s breath.
 
“They’re lovely, Brant.
 
Thank
you.”

“There’s
a card attached.
 
Is it too dark or can
you read it?”

She
found the card and held it up to the dim light.
 
LOVE YOU ALWAYS, BRANT, it read.

Her
fingers brushed against the carnations’ silken petals as she dropped the card
back into the box.
 
“I love you, too.”

He
picked up the box and set it back on the seat.
 
“I’m thrilled that you’ll be my wife.
 
Since you’ll stay in Columbus now, do you plan to ask
Desi
if you can return to WBKB?
 
Or are you tired of being a working girl and
ready to settle down and focus on us becoming a family?”

“Wait
a minute!”
 
She glanced at him, but
forced herself to keep her eyes directed toward the road ahead.
 
“Brant, I never said I’d give up my job at
WCIT when I told you I’d marry you.”

“But
I assumed that you would when you accepted my ring.”

“My
acceptance of the ring means I’ll always be faithful to you, and that I gave
you my heart, but not the power to control what I want to do with my life.”

“Isn’t
spending your life with me what you want to do?”

“Yes,
but I still want to advance my career goals.”

“Can’t
you do that in Columbus?”

“You
know as well as I do that the job in Columbus can’t compare with the offer in
New York.”

“How
are we supposed to be a couple if you’re in New York and I’m in Ohio?
 
It won’t work, Lindsay.
 
I want more than a weekend marriage.”

“Couldn’t
you look for a job in New York?”

“I’m
satisfied with my current job.
 
My
position at WQXL means the world to me.
 
There was a lot I had to go through to earn this job.
 
I’m almost settled in with it, and now you
ask me to leave it?”

She
licked her lips that turned dry.
 
“Only as a last effort to share a future with you.”

Brant
stared dejectedly out the window and didn’t comment.
 
Bright lights from other cars, neon signs and
streetlights shone all around him.
 
It
seemed to take forever to arrive at her house since there was an unusual amount
of traffic on the highway tonight.
 
He
was tired of sitting in the cramped quarters of her car.
 
What he really needed now was a long walk in
the fresh night air to clear his mind and to be alone with his thoughts.

Do I
really want to be alone,
he asked himself, then determined,
no.
 
Where I want to be is with Lindsay.

“I
was all set to celebrate when we reached your place,” he told her.
 
“Now I feel like I’ve been fighting a losing
battle.
 
I’d be miserable living without
you now that I’ve known the joy of being with you.
 
Honey, we’ve got to find a solution to our
problem.”

“Oh,
no!” she mumbled.

“You
disagree?”

“That’s
not what I meant.
 
I just discovered why
traffic is crawling along instead of flowing at a normal pace.
 
There’s an accident at the next
intersection.
 
I hope no one is seriously
hurt.”

“Here
comes the crew of people to sweep the glass away and clean off the road.
 
Maybe you should turn off the motor.
 
It looks like we won’t move for
awhile
.”

“It’s
taking a long time to get home tonight.”

“And
it took the weekend team a long time to realize we should become a husband and
wife team, so I hope you’ll change your mind about wanting to leave
Columbus.”
 
His voice contained a hint of
desperation.

“I
doubt if we’ll accomplish anything by discussing our situation any more
tonight.
 
Let’s not talk about it until
tomorrow.
 
Maybe then one or both of us
will see the problem differently after we sleep on it awhile.”

“You
sound like Scarlett O’Hara in the last scene of
Gone
With The
Wind
as she decides to leave
her chances for a future with Rhett up to fate.”