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It vanished very quickly. Bradley Youngson stood in the hall.
Je
His dark eyes never left her face. “Simple,” he said. “I went to your old office and threatened Dolores with every form of mayhem known to man, and a few I invented, if she didn’t tell me where you were.”
Je
They surveyed each other in silence. Lee looked wonderful, as usual, immaculate in designer jeans and a white turtleneck sweater that flattered his dusky skin. By contrast, Je
“May I come in?” he asked pointedly.
Her mind whirling with a dozen questions, Je
What now? Je
It was Dolores. “Oh, Je
“You’re a little late, Dolores,” Je
Je
Dolores groaned. “Oh, God, I was afraid of that. Je
“It’s all right, Dolores,” Je
Strangely enough, it didn’t. Everything else had gone wrong; having Lee show up to find her looking like an underage bag lady was just another calamity to add to a long list.
“I didn’t tell him you were pregnant,” Dolores said piously. There was a pause. “Though if I were you, I—”
“Thank you, Dolores,” Je
“I take it that was Dolores,” Lee said.
“Yes.”
“Calling to warn you of the impending arrival of the rampaging savage,” he added.
Je
“Oh, well, I’m glad to see she survived her last encounter with me. She was looking strangely pale when I left; I fear I’ve lost a fan.” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder at the wall. “What is that? German?”
“The Prologue to Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, in the original Middle English. It looks and sounds like German. Old English does, too, only more so.”
He nodded, watching her. “I wondered why it seemed familiar.”
Je
“Why are you here?” she asked.
He shook his head. “Don’t beat around the bush, Je
She waited, unmoving.
Lee propped one foot, encased in a leather topsider, on an overturned box and leaned forward with his arms folded on his upraised knee. “I’ve been accepted to medical school. I’m retiring from football and starting at Temple University in the fall.”
Je
“That’s wonderful, Lee,” she managed to get out “Congratulations.”
His black eyes bored into hers. “You’re responsible, you know. You convinced me to try. Without your encouragement, I never would have had the nerve.”
Je
There was no reply from the man behind her. “Is that what you came to tell me?” she asked, coughing slightly to disguise the hoarseness of her voice. That couldn’t be all. He had bludgeoned Dolores, tracked her down like Sherlock Holmes, and flown thousands of miles to deliver this message? He could have telephoned or written. She was puzzled.
“Well, yes…” he said, sounding confused. Then she was suddenly seized by the shoulders and hauled around to face him.
“Goddamnit,” he said between gritted teeth, “why do I always allow you to do this to me? That wasn’t what I came to say at all.” He stared down at her, his stark features filled with emotion.
“Why did you leave your job with the Freedom?” he demanded.
“I wanted a change of scenery, warmer weather,” Je
“I’ll tell you what business of mine it is,” Lee said grimly. “I think you left because of me.”
“Don’t flatter yourself,” Je
“I think you wanted to be gone before I reported back to camp next fall. You didn’t know I would be starting school, and you resigned so as not to see me again,” he continued as if she hadn’t spoken.
“You think I would give up a job I worked years to get just to avoid a few uncomfortable moments with you?” she said scornfully. “I’ve heard of giant egos, but yours must be the size of an airplane hangar.”
“That’s not the reason,” he said calmly, holding her fast despite her fruitless efforts to wriggle free. “You gave up the job because you’re in love with me and you couldn’t stand to be around me and not have me.”
Je
His beautiful eyes became lambent and full of feeling. “At least, I hope so, because I came here to tell you I love you and want to take you back with me.
The silence was deafening.
“I said I love you,” Lee repeated. “Do you love me?” It was issued like a challenge.
No response.
Lee shook her gently. “Aren’t you speaking English today?”
Je
Lee sighed and released her. “Look, something is wrong here. When I say I love you, you’re supposed to say ‘I love you, too’ and smother me in an ardent embrace.”
Je
“Oh, fine,” Lee said, throwing up his hands. “What am I supposed to derive from this?”
When she continued to cry, he sat down next to her and waited for the storm to pass, surveying her with an expression of mixed exasperation and tenderness. As she subsided to an occasional sniffle, he said, “Does that mean you love me, or not?”
Je
She didn’t see his long, deep, silent sigh of relief. In a voice that was not quite steady he said, “I see. Don’t you think it would be more appropriate to say, ‘Of course I love you, my darling’? You jackass’ hardly seems the proper form of address.”
She looked up at him from under long, spiky lashes matted with tears. “Are you going to pick a fight about that, now? Besides, anybody else but you would have realized it long before this.” She hiccuped.
His eyes widened. “Oh, is that so?”
Je
He took the kerchief from her and finished the job. “Perhaps you’ll be kind enough to tell me how I was supposed to detect your mad passion for me when you were throwing me out of your apartment This was followed, as I recall, by your packing up and moving 1,300 miles away without even a goodbye. I emerged from the hospital to find that you had vanished.”