rush it. Three weeks was nothing, he had told himself, heâd ruin everything if he rushed it, he had to go slowâand nowâ) His face showed his thought. She pointed at his face.
âWhat a fix it has been in, hasnât it?â she asked. âLiterally The Doctorâs Dilemma . Shaw,â she said, âUncle Miltie Shaw, darling! The poor, poor doctorâs been between Scylla and Charybdis. Certainly if youâcouchezed avec a good girl you should make it right. But if the girl is in mourningâif the girl is rich.⦠But darling Milton,â she whispered, âI am not really in mourning. Oh, there are bad dreams, darling, when I need you near me because you know, because youâre the only oneâand there are ⦠other dreams when I also need you near me.â His mouth was hanging open and she put her hand under his chin and gently closed it. âDonât bother puzzling it out, dear blind Miltonâwill you marry me?â
He sat with his arm around her and squeezed her to him. She leaned her head against him and he could smell the faint odor of her hair. She must shampoo it with Ivory soap, he thought. Ivory soap, for the love of Mike! Because that was one more thing he didnât understand about her. She was wearing the same old black dress and her hair skinned back the same old way and no make-up. Having asked him to come to see her right after lunch, having known what she was going to talk about, how could any female woman do so little to make herself attractive to a man? He could imagine what Cissie Parker would have done in similar circumstances.
âYes?â Sloane asked.
He must have looked as if he was going to say something. âYou know what Iâm going to give you for an engagement present?â
âNot a ring, Milton, please. I donât ever wear jewelry.â
âI couldnât afford to give you jewelry.â He got off the sofa and knelt in front of her, taking her face between his two hands. âWhat is it you donât have? Anyhow, as far as I can see, you donât have it. What is it every other girl beginning at twelve years of age has? What did the Browning girl have that you donât have?â She couldnât seem to guess. He whispered, âA lipstick.â
He was engaged. He hadnât fumbled the ball. He had to tell someone. He wondered what the women at the gate would say if he told them. He should tell them, he had one of them to thank for passing on the good word to Jenny. Mrs. Levinson, probably. He nodded to Mrs. Levinson and asked about her Michael, then got into the car and turned its nose toward home.
Home, hell!
Because he was excited, he didnât ring the bell but used his key and let himself in. The minute he opened the door there was a kind of scurry along the back hall, a door opened and was immediately closed. He got there quickly enough to see that it was his closet door she had opened and shut. Jenny was standing in the entrance to the bathroom.
âOh, itâs you,â she said, âthatâs O.K. I thought it was Bud.â
He flung his closet door open and reached up for the suitcase and felt to see if she had left the straps undone, but if she had opened them, she had fastened them again.
Jenny had come away from the bathroom and was standing right behind Milton. âWhat do you want out of the valise, Milt?â
âWhat did you want in my closet? My God, all the privacy I have in this place is in this closet, but you have to stick your nose in there, too!â
She said, âNow, listen here, Miltââ but then remembered that he had to be handled with kid gloves. âNow, Milt,â she said, and reaching into the closet took out a bottle, showing him that it was peroxide. âAll it was, I was touching up my hair, Milt. When you came in I figured it was Bud, so I wanted to quick hide the evidence.â She held the open bottle of peroxide
Legs McNeil, Jennifer Osborne, Peter Pavia