Chapter 21

At 5:30 on Saturday afternoon, Amanda still wasn't ready to leave for their dinner with Clay and Francine, and Lee was starting to stress.

"Amanda, we're going to be late!" he called through the bathroom door of his – their- apartment.

The door opened and she stepped out. "The last time your voice went up half an octave like that you said, "Amanda, he's going to go home!" she said with a smile.

"And then you stepped out of the ladies' room at the courthouse in that beautiful white wool suit and I forgave everything."

" And you said, 'You look beautiful'. Well, was it worth the wait?"

"Then or now?"

"Either."

"You look… thank you for taking a chance and marrying me, Amanda."

"Well, somebody had to keep you in line, Stetson. Now, according to this lovely watch you gave me as a not -so-gentle reminder that I need to be on time more often, it's only 5:35 and the restaurant is all of fifteen minutes away."

"Yes, but they'll be early. He's always early."

"Yes, and if we're not, so what? You don't have to stand at attention when he addresses you anymore, Lee. As I told him the first time I met him, you're your own man, and you have your own way of doing things. Besides, he's spent most of the last twenty-four hours with Francine. That should have mellowed him out at least a little bit, if what you told me about the way he reacted when you introduced them is any indication."

"Can we talk about this in the car, please?"

"Sure."

They got to the restaurant a few minutes before six, and as Lee had expected, his uncle and Francine were already there, seated at a table just beyond the hostess station. Clayton raised a hand and Lee told the hostess, "Our party is already seated,"

"Very good, sir. Enjoy your meals, sir, ma'am."

Clayton, ever the gentleman, stood up, took both Amanda's hands in his, and kissed her check before shaking hands with Lee. To Lee's surprise, Francine hugged Amanda and said, "Did you get the house?"

"We did. The seller accepted our offer. We close by the end of the month, sooner if we can make it happen."

"That's wonderful! It's everything you wanted?"

"Everything. You'll have to come over and see it once we close. How was your trip to West Point?"

"Fabulous! "

"Help yourself to the appetizers," Clayton said as they all sat down. "And I decided to try that pilsener you recommended, Lee. It's very good."

"We ordered it the first time we came here, and we really liked it," Lee said as he poured glasses of beer for himself and Amanda. "You've had a very full twenty-four hours, it sounds like."

"Oh, yeah. When this man makes plans, he doesn't do anything by halves," Francine said with a laugh. "However, if he'd bothered to mention that he was going to take me on a drive around Storm King Mountain in a vintage Triumph Spitfire – which the man drove he was on the Corniche – I could have taken a scarf. Fortunately, the man he borrowed the car from brought his wife, who loaned me a Hermes silk scarf."

"You borrowed a vintage Spit?" Lee said. "You didn't tell me that when you called from Stewart. You just said you borrowed a car."

"I don't have to tell you everything, Son," Clay said mildly.

Conversation stopped while they gave their meal orders, but once the server had left, Francine took up the tale again.

"He borrowed it from a classmate who now owns a very prosperous business in Newburgh," she said. "We borrowed the car, drove to a supermarket, bought picnic stuff, ate it in a park in this lovely little village called Cornwall, fed the ducks while we were there, and then the adventure began."

"And once you got to West Point?"

"Then it was up hill and down dale until I thought my Doc Martens were going to cry for mercy."

"The shoes, maybe, but our Miss Desmond took it all in stride." Clayton said proudly.

"Michie Stadium?" Lee asked.

"Oh, yeah. Also, all the way up to the Cadet Chapel, back down to the Old Cadet Chapel to see Benedict Arnold's plaque, and out to Trophy Point to see Battle Monument. I stood on top of Thayer Hall and looked at the view; I walked all the way down to Kosciusko's Garden and all the way back up again…. You get the idea."

When they were mostly finished with their meals, the server came back to ask about dessert. "We can recommend the hot fudge brownie," Amanda said. "It's so rich it comes with two spoons so a couple can share it."

"Sounds wonderful. Will you order us one, Clay? Amanda and I are going to the powder room. Amanda?"

Amanda took her cue beautifully. As she and Francine headed toward the restrooms, they heard Clay say, " Lee, have you ever noticed that women go to the powder room in groups? I'm convinced that they do it so they can talk about us behind our backs."

As soon as they reached the privacy of the restroom both women burst out laughing. "He's right, of course," Francine said. "I needed the potty, but mainly I just wanted to talk to you in private."

When they'd both come out of the stalls, Amanda said, "I can't go back out there without finding out if you were kissed on Flirtation Walk."

"Oh, I was. I certainly was. Amanda, he makes all the other men I've ever dated look like overgrown schoolboys. Well, maybe not all of them…" she added, realizing that she'd just put Lee in that category.

"Oh, Lee fit that description too, Francine. I know that. You don't have to pussyfoot around me. I'm very happy for you."

"Thank you. I guess we'd better go back before they eat our halves of the brownies."

"They wouldn't dare."