painting that shouldn’t be there. Then she thought of another that was probably not in the right frame. After coffee she remembered two more without signatures, and so it went for the remaining four days. She was in a frenzy of nervousness over the show. Through it all Ben smiled and loved and cajoled. He took her to dinner, dragged her to a movie, made her join him at the beach; he forced her to go swimming, kept her up late at night making love. On Thursday he took her out to lunch.
“I don’t want to hear it.” He held up a hand.
“But, Ben, what if-”
“No. Not a word about the show until tomorrow.”
“But…”
“No!” He put his finger to her lips, and she moved it aside with a fresh burst of worry. But he only laughed. “How is the wine?”
“What wine?” She looked around, distracted, and he pointed to her glass.
“The wine you’re not drinking. How is it?”
“I don’t know, and what I wanted to ask you is…”
He put both fingers in his ears, and she started to laugh at him. “Ben! Stop it!”
“What?” He smiled happily at her across the table. She was laughing.
“Listen to me! I wanted to ask you something about tonight!”
He started to hum gently, his fingers still in his ears. Deanna couldn’t stop laughing. “You’re horrible and I hate you!”
“No, you don’t. You can’t keep your hands off me, and you want to drag me away with you so you can attack me. Right?”
“Actually, now that you mention it…” She grinned and took a sip of her wine, and they teased throughout lunch. He had taken the afternoon off. The paintings were all hung to perfection for Deanna’s show. Sally was in control at the gallery, and he thought it a good idea to stay with Deanna, before she changed her mind or came apart at the seams. And he had a surprise for her that afternoon. He looked at his watch as they walked back to the car after lunch.
“Deanna, do you mind if I stop at Saks?”
“Now?” She looked surprised. “No, that’s all right.”
“It won’t take me long.” He parked in front of the store with an abstracted smile. “Want to come in?”
“No, I’ll wait.”
“Sure?” He didn’t push; he knew she didn’t want to be alone today, not even for a short time.
“All right. I’ll come.” It had been an easy sale, and he walked happily beside her into the store. “What do you have to do?”
“Pick up a dress.” He said it with absolute self-confidence and complete nonchalance.
“A dress?”
“For Sally. She said she wouldn’t have time. So I told her I’d get it and bring it to the gallery tonight in time for her to change. By the way, what are you wearing?” She had been so busy with her signatures and her frames that he wasn’t even sure she’d given it any thought.
“I don’t know. I thought I’d wear my black dress.” She had brought two or three dinner dresses from the house. They were hanging in his closet, along with her jeans, her paint-splattered shirts, several pairs of gabardine slacks, and half a dozen turtleneck cashmere sweaters. He liked the way her clothes looked next to his.
“Why don’t you wear the green dress?”
“Too dressy.” She was ten thousand miles away when she spoke. “Listen, do you know which critics are coming?” Her eyes rushed into his.
“I don’t think it’s too dressy.” He looked amused.
“Did you hear what I asked you?” Distress was creeping into her voice.
“No. Now, what about the green dress?”
“Screw the green dress, I wanted to ask you-”
He kissed her hard on the mouth and left her breathless as they got off the elevator on the second floor. “Ben!” But there had been no one around to see what he’d done. “Will you listen to me?”
“No.” He was already greeting the saleswoman. She brought the dress out. “Perfect.” He smiled at her again and looked at Deanna. “What do you think?”
“Hm?” She was hopelessly vague, but her attention was suddenly arrested by the dress. It was an almost mauve, heather-blue wool with a high neck, long sleeves, and no back. And it had a beautifully cut matching coat. “That is pretty, isn’t it? Is that Sally’s dress?” She took a step forward to touch the thin wool. It was a French fabric and French design and must have cost her a fortune. “That’s a beauty.” The saleswoman and Ben exchanged a smile of the eyes. “Maybe I should wear the green after all.”
“I don’t think so. Why don’t you just wear that?” He had a look of innocence which totally confused Deanna.
“Wear Sally’s dress? Don’t be silly.”
“You could lend her your green.”
“Darling, I love you, but I think you’re quite mad.” She smiled at the saleswoman and started to walk away, but Ben gently took her arm and whispered in her ear.
“I think you’re crazy too, now go try on your new dress.”
She looked at him in astonishment. “Are you kidding?” He shook his head. “It’s for me?”
He nodded with a satisfied smile. “Do you like it?”
“I… oh, Ben, I can’t. It’s gorgeous!” She turned to look at it again, and her eyes grew wide. It was exquisite, but probably also monstrously expensive. And Ben had done that for her? The man who drove an anonymous German car, and would rather eat spaghetti than caviar? The man who took pride in not having a maid but only a cleaning lady once or twice a week, when his grandfather had lived surrounded by an army of servants, and his father had retired to a palazzo near Rome? This man had bought her that dress? It was the sort of thing she would have hesitated even to charge to Marc. “Good Lord!”
“Shut up and go try it. I want to see!”
She did, and he saw. It was perfect. The cut, the style, the color. She looked regal, coming toward him, the coat draped over her arm. Her tan set off the rich heather-blue, and her bare back and shoulders were perfectly sculpted into the dress. “What’ll you wear with it?”
“Diamond earrings and black silk sandals. And my hair up.”
“Oh, God, I can’t stand it.” He grinned with such pleasure that even the saleswoman laughed.
When she put it on that night, he was sitting on the bed. They smiled at each other, and he zipped up what there was to zip in the back. She clipped the diamond earrings on her ears and smoothed her hair up high on her head. She looked perfect, and for a moment it took his breath away. Then, with a smile, he gently took off the diamond earrings.
“What are you doing?”
“Taking these off.”
She looked puzzled. “Why? Don’t you like them?” Maybe it was because they had been a present from Marc. “I don’t have any others here that would do.”
“Never mind.” He reached into his pocket and took out a little blue silk bag. He opened it and took out two large and very beautiful pearls. There was a tiny diamond beneath each pearl, and the earrings looked very old and fine. “I want you to wear these.”
“Oh, Ben.” Deanna looked at them with astonishment, then raised her eyes to his. “What have you done?” The dress, the earrings, the show. He was giving her so much. Everything…
“The earrings were my grandmother’s. I want you to have them, Deanna. This is a very special night.” There were tears in her eyes when she looked up at him again. Tenderly, he took her face in his. “I want this to be the most beautiful night of your life. This is the beginning of your life in the art world, Deanna. And I want everyone to know just how good you are.” There was more love welling up in his eyes than she had ever seen, and her heart trembled as she put her arms around him.
“You are so good to me.”
“We’re good to each other, and that’s a very special gift.”
“I can’t keep the earrings.” She couldn’t. Not unless she stayed with Ben. But in another month she would have
