“At seven-thirty?”
“Gabrielle, you used to be in the office by seven,” he reminded her. “They expected to find you here.”
“What have you told them?”
“I haven’t said anything yet, except that I’d try to reach you. No one else had the nerve to tell them you didn’t work here anymore.”
She swallowed hard. “Do you think they’ve figured it out?”
“Not yet, but they’re beginning to guess that something’s wrong. Your father’s pacing and I’ve seen that expression before. It’s the one he had on his face when he lost the vote on that health care amendment. I can’t stall them much longer. They wanted me to give them your new number.”
Paul had remained silent up until now, but he suddenly took the phone from her hand. “Ted, what’s the problem?”
While Gabrielle pulled her knees to her chest, wrapped her arms around her legs and shivered uncontrollably, Paul extracted information from Ted. She was barely listening. This was her worst nightmare come true. She should have told her parents weeks ago. She could have sent a letter. She could have done almost anything except what she’d done, which was to hide from the truth in Brooklyn. She’d been living in a make-believe world.
She tuned back into the phone call just as Paul said, “Fine. Send them over.”
“No,” Gabrielle yelped, grabbing for the phone. “Ted, you can’t send them here. Tell them I’ll meet them at the Waldorf or the Plaza, anyplace they like in an hour. I need to explain things to them.”
“You can do that here,” Paul said quietly. She saw the ominous look in his eyes, the stiff set of his jaw and flinched. This was something she couldn’t give in about, though. She had to see them alone. She could not expose Paul to an outpouring of their anger and dismay. She could not risk their disdain of the life she and Paul had built together. Once she’d explained, told them how well things were going for her now, how much she loved Paul, maybe it would be okay. They weren’t unfeeling ogres, for heaven’s sake.
Clenching the phone so tightly her hand hurt, she repeated, “Tell them I’ll meet them.”
They agreed on the Palm Court at the Plaza at nine. She hung up, more shaken than she’d ever been in her life. Not even her announcement of her plan to move to New York had terrified her like this.
“If you do it this way, we don’t have a chance,” Paul said.
“It’s the only way I can do it. I have to prepare them.”
“For what? Your great come-down in life? Me?”
“I don’t mean it like that,” she said miserably.
“How do you mean it? What you’re doing sounds exactly like what someone who’s ashamed of her life would do.”
She looked at it through Paul’s eyes and understood why he felt that way. “Please, try to understand. I just want it to be perfect when they meet you. I’ll explain everything and then I’ll invite them over for dinner tonight. Is that all right?”
He nodded reluctantly. “I suppose that will have to do.”
She slid her arms around his waist and rested her head against his chest. “I do love you.”
He sighed heavily. “I know, Gaby. I’m just not sure it’s enough.”
* * *
Gabrielle walked into the Plaza with her shoulders squared and her head held high. Only she knew that an army of butterflies had been allowed to fly free in her stomach.
She saw her parents at once. Her father’s steel-gray hair, florid complexion and ramrod straight posture were unmistakable. Her mother looked like an exquisite doll beside him. She was patting his hand, a familiar gesture that usually meant her father was about to explode and her mother was trying to forestall it. As she approached, her mother’s face flooded with relief.
“Gabrielle, darling, here you are at last.” She bent over to give her mother a kiss.
“I’m early,” she said in response to the implied criticism. She felt herself regressing automatically to six-year-old status and pulled herself together.
“You know your father. He has absolutely no patience. He was furious when we got in last night and he realized we wouldn’t be able to reach you until this morning. Then when you weren’t at the office… Well, thank heavens, that nice young man was there.”
“Ted.” Gabrielle looked at her father and saw the affection in his eyes that counterpointed his scowl. She gave him a kiss. “Hi, Daddy. Why didn’t you let me know you were coming?”
“How the hell were we supposed to do that?” he grumbled. “It was a last-minute thing. You know I don’t approve of personal calls at work and you haven’t seen fit to give us your new phone number.”
“Sorry, Daddy,” she said, sitting down gratefully and grabbing a menu before she could start wallowing in apologies. “Have you ordered yet? I’m starving.”
“No, dear. We’ve been waiting for you.”
“Why weren’t you in the office, Gabrielle?” her father demanded. She’d wondered how long it would take for him to get to the point, but she still wasn’t prepared for the question.
“You’ve been fired, haven’t you?” he said when she didn’t respond.
“Yes,” she said, meeting his gaze evenly. This was it. The next few minutes would decide once and for all if she was a grown-up, independent woman or a coward.
Her mother gasped. “Darling, why didn’t you tell us? We would have helped. Your father has contacts, I’m sure.”
“I didn’t want to use Daddy’s contacts. I knew I could handle things myself.”
“But what are you doing for money? That’s why you moved, isn’t it? You were running out of money. Oh, dear heavens, Gabrielle, you’re not living in some awful place with cockroaches, are you?”
Gabrielle grinned despite herself. “No. Actually the apartment is quite nice. It’s a renovated brownstone in Brooklyn.”
Her mother turned pale at that. She’d barely accepted the idea of Manhattan. Brooklyn was beyond her imagination. None of her friends ever visited Brooklyn. They rarely got beyond the Plaza and
