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Jess crossed her arms across her chest. “Not so fast. You need to go home and put some pants on before I even consider having this conversation.” Jess shook her head. “God, there are some things that can’t be unseen.”
Lane could hear the kids in the hall talking, but she had no idea what they were saying or to whom they were talking.
Ben looked down the hall toward Lane’s bedroom.
Jess tilted her head toward her Mother’s bedroom door. “You’ll have to go through me to get in there dressed like that.”
Ben looked at her, calculating the options. She was only five feet four inches tall and maybe 110 pounds, soaking wet after a big meal. Of course, he had seen to it that she’d taken self-defense classes. Still, he thought his odds were good until he realized that Jamie had moved to stand behind her. He looked down at his boxers and held his hands up. “All right, I’m going home to put on some pants. But I’m coming back. Your mother knows I’m on my way over here. And, when I get back, nothing’s keeping me out of that room.”
There was only one stop light between his house and Lane’s and he hit it on green both ways. He was back in under fifteen minutes. Jess met him in the garage. He held his hands out as if asking if his weekend uniform of khaki slacks, Polo shirt and Gucci loafers was acceptable.
Jess smiled. “Okay. Yes, you have my permission to ask my mother to marry you. I just want you to think about whether this is the way you want to do it. Full of urgency and no romance. We both know she’ll say yes either way. I’m just saying she might deserve something more romantic.”
He motioned for Jess to move away from the door. “Jess, I know you’ve been in L.A. for a long time, learning all about the world of film, but this is real life. You can’t direct everything and everyone like we’re all actors on your stage. But I’ll promise you this much, I’ll take your suggestion under advisement. But I’m warning you, I’m playing this one by ear. Now do I have to pick you up and move you or are you going to let me in?”
Jess was uncharacteristically quiet as she stepped away from the door leading into the house and waved her hand as if ushering him through. He opened the door and turned to her. “Am I going to run into any interference from the Bambino?”
“I really don’t know. If you do, why don’t you just play it by ear?”
All right, she was pissed, but that was too bad. He hadn’t even offered to bribe her with shoes. Sometimes fun and games were fine, but this wasn’t a game. He walked into the mud room and through the kitchen to find Jamie sitting at the breakfast bar.
“Bambino, are we good,” he asked. Ben had called Jamie Bambino since their first meeting when Jamie was a gangly 14 year old who seemed sort of lost and alone after the move to Kansas.
“Yeah, Ben, we’re okay as long as you don’t plan on spending the night.”
Ben shook his head. At this moment, he wasn’t even sure he was going to make it all the way to the bedroom. “We’ve had this talk before, Bambino. If your mother and I were sleeping together, it would be none of your business. But, I’ll tell you this. I love your mother and I want to marry her. I promise you that I’ll love, honor, cherish and respect her.”
Ben shook his head. Hell he’d waited this long and besides, the test results weren’t back yet. There was no way Lane was going to have sex with him tonight. And test results or no, the first time he made love to her, he didn’t want an anxious audience waiting outside the door.
“I’m not spending the night, Bambino. You can relax.”
Ben proceeded down the hall. He knocked on the door. “It’s me. Can I come in,” he said as he opened the door. Lane was sitting up reading and he closed the door behind him. “Tell me again,” he said as he walked toward her.
She smiled at him. “I love you.”
He crossed the room in three strides, picked her up and kissed her. “I love you,” he said and he kissed her again. He held her, each of them murmuring, “I Love you,” to the other over and over again between kisses until Ben sat her on the bed.
“Lane, you are my heart. Spend the day with me tomorrow, just the two of us. It’s late and I know you’ll want to sleep in. I’ll come by and get you at nine o’clock in the morning.” He bent and kissed her. “I love you.”
Jess was right, Lane deserved the first class experience, not some love sick puppy in his boxers. And he had all night to plan the perfect proposal.
Chapter 11
So much to do
Labor Day morning dawned early for Ben. But he was usually up at 5:30 a.m. anyway, so he could run 5-10 miles before doing his weight training. Today he had a romantic proposal to plan. There was always a romantic carriage ride through the Plaza, but that had been done so many times. There was a champagne hot air balloon ride over the city at twilight. There was di
He called his father. When the Bellinis talked to each other, it was almost always in Italian. His Father had been born in America to parents who had emigrated from Sicily. His paternal grandparents had arranged the marriage between his Father and his Mother. Papa had gone to Sicily, married his bride and then brought her back to America. Ben’s Uncles, Salvatore and Vincenzo Luciano, his mother’s brothers had helped arrange the marriage. They were identical twin brothers and had come to America earlier to attend college and law school before landing in Kansas City.
“Papa, I need the banquet room today. All day. Is it available?”
His father smiled. His son was finally going to propose to the woman he knew was the love of his son’s life. There was no other reason to call at eight in the morning and ask for the banquet room for the day. Dante Bellini checked the calendar. The room was available, which meant that he wouldn’t have to juggle people to make it available. If his first born son needed the room, Dante would have made it available.
“Yes. It’s yours,” he told his son. “Shall I bring things from storage to decorate?”
“No.” Then Ben remembered that he’d asked Lane to spend the day with him. He wouldn’t be able to decorate himself. “Yes. One table, gazebo setting, draped in cream and blush and strewn with rose petals that I’ll have delivered.”
Again his father smiled. “Ah, finally you are going to propose to our Bella Bambina. What time will you be here? I’ll have the champagne on ice in the room.”
Ben thought only for a minute. “We’ll be there at eleven o’clock.” He’d told Lane he was going to pick her up at nine o’clock and he didn’t think he could wait all day to hear her answer.
Ben shook his head as he got off the phone. Apparently everyone in his family knew years ago that he was in love with Lane. His maternal grandfather had met Lane last Christmas, and had told Ben he would be a fool to let her go. Papa and No
He called his favorite florist. He’d had a standing order for two dozen roses, to be sent to Lane’s office every Tuesday, since he and Lane had become a couple. The first delivery had been yellow roses tipped in red to signify their friendship that had turned romantic. He’d slowly mixed those with red roses, until the bouquet now was only red roses. He sent 24 to symbolize that she was always on his mind. Standing for the twenty-four hours of the day, and to say that he thought of her during every hour of the day. Today he was having red rose petals, along with nine dozen red roses, sent to the restaurant. He wasn’t sure where his florist would get that many on such short notice, but he’d looked it up and he knew that 108 roses say “Will you marry me?” and he wasn’t going to settle for less. He was only going to ask one woman to marry him, only do this once. Jess had been right, he wanted to do it right.