Free The Daughter-in-Law by Diana Diamond Page B

library. And Pam would be opening gifts in the reception room.
    “I didn’t bring a gift,” Nicole confessed.
    “I signed your name on mine.”
    “What did we give her?”
    “Well, she’s becoming business manager at the Philharmonic ...”
    She reacted with horror. “Oh God, not a fountain pen, or a briefcase?”
    “I stressed the art over the business,” he answered. “I got her a CD set of all last year’s concerts.”
    It seemed like a relaxing, pleasant schedule. Nicole hadn’t brought a swimsuit so she was leaning toward a sail out on the Sound.
    “Oh, I told Alexandra that you liked flowers. She wants to show you her garden.”
    Nicole felt her heart miss a few beats.

TEN
    T HE GARDENS could have been the botanical center for a city. In terraces that fell down the hill to the south, away from the water views, there were fields of perennials and fresh rows of brightly colored annuals. Interspersed were collections of grasses, tall and green now, and destined to ripen to golds and ambers as the summer progressed. There was a miniature bamboo forest that Alexandra feared might not survive a full year. And there was a huge greenhouse hidden behind a decorative wall that was devoted to epiphytes. The orchards were sensational. Below the gardens there were potting sheds filled with tools, plant feed, and sacks of aromatic soil. The way Alexandra handled the plants on the workbench showed that she wasn’t just a spectator. She liked to get her hands dirty.
    Nicole strolled up and down the pathways at Alexandra’s side, oohing and aahing, asking questions and, in general, trying to sound impressed. It was quickly obvious that Nicole’s knowledge of flowers was limited to a florist’s window, but her love of plants seemed sincere. They were passing in front of a row of rose bushes when Alexandra got down to business.
    “Jonathan is quite taken with you. He talks about nothing else.”
    “That’s flattering. He’s a wonderful person.”
    Alexandra stopped walking. “Do you really think so?”
    The question was a shocker. “Of course,” Nicole answered. “You know he saved my life.”
    Alexandra’s expression said she didn’t know, so Nicole told her the story of their first meeting. “I hated him for chewing me out like that,” she explained with a laugh. “But then I realized that it was for my own good. I could easily have been killed. So, when he called me a week later—”
    “He called you?” Mrs. Donner seemed surprised.
    “Yes, and asked me to dinner.”
    “When did you find out he was a Donner?”
    A key question, Nicole realized. Did she find she liked Jonathan before or after she learned of his millions? “When he left me his phone number. I’m in brokerage, so I know about Sound Holdings. Jonathan Donner rang a bell.”
    “When did you know that you loved him?”
    Another mine in the minefield. “That’s hard to say. I liked him right away, when we were in the airplane. He could see I was nervous and tried to be encouraging. And he took responsibility for me during the jump.”
    “And now your feeling for him is more than just ‘liking’?”
    “Yes,” she said softly. “Much more.”
    Alexandra nodded and resumed her walking tour. “That’s very important to me. There have been several women who wanted to marry my son. But none of them loved him. They were all very enthusiastic about learning skydiving, and helicopter skiing, and some of his other hobbies. But when it came right down to it, none of them ever jumped out of an airplane just to be with him.”
    A few more steps and then Alexandra stopped again. “What do you see in Jonathan’s future?”
    Nicole shrugged. “I haven’t looked that far ahead. We’ve only been together for a few weeks.”
    “Long enough for you to have discovered that he’s flawed.”
    “Flawed? I don’t understand, unless you mean that he’s very nonchalant. But I like that better than someone who is grimly serious.”
    “I mean