"She asked you to call. She sounded very upset, Miss Edwards."
Jennifer frowned as the operator gave her the message. "Thank you. Can you give me the number again, please?"
As she wrote the phone number on the notepad she kept by the phone, Jennifer thought back to the last twenty-four hours. This was not how she anticipated arriving home to New York. She and Jonathan had gone dancing and had an incredible dinner on their last night in London. And after that, they went back to her apartment in Chelsea and made love on the kitchen table. She had been in there to get a glass of water and one thing led to another and after a round on the table, Jonathan carried her to bed and made love to her again until they passed out from exhaustion in a tangle of limbs. They woke up to the phone ringing. Max called to make sure they were up and ready to be picked up to go to the airport. They had to collect their clothes from the kitchen floor before quickly showering—which they did together and ended up failing to actually save any time—and make sure the last of Jennifer's things were packed.
The plane ride had been unlike anything Jennifer had ever experienced. She had never actually been on a private plane before. It was comfortable and casual and incredibly enjoyable. Max had food and drinks for them, and she and Jonathan sat comfortably together, snuggled up and enjoying the closeness that the private plane and its space allowed. She even managed to get in a little nap, something she'd never managed on any commercial flight in her life. And even better, she was woken gently by Jonathan kissing her temple and telling her they were about to land.
Thanks to the time difference and the speed of Jonathan's plane, they arrived in New York in the mid-afternoon. Max had already arranged for Jonathan's New York car—a gorgeous silver Mercedes—to be there waiting for them. Max put the luggage in the car, Jonathan and Jennifer got in the backseat, and Max got behind the wheel.
"Max obviously knows where you live, but I don't," Jonathan said to her.
"Yes," Jennifer answered, "Max had to arrange for all my boxes to be delivered, so he's got the address. I'm on the Upper East Side, 69th and Madison."
"How long have you lived there?" he asked.
"A few years. I've kept the apartment for about six years, I think, but I spend a few months in other places, depending on my work. I fell in love with the neighborhood when I was at Columbia. I lived on the Upper West Side while I was in school, which was nice, but I would come to the East Side to go shopping, and I found myself just wandering Park Avenue and Madison Avenue and looking at all the beautiful buildings and beautiful things. So when I decided to come back to New York, I wanted to find a place in that neighborhood."
"You went to Columbia for college?" he asked in surprise.
Jennifer always felt a little embarrassed talking about her educational history, so she just said, "For a little while. I went to a few different schools."
"Did you get thrown out?" Jonathan teased.
She nudged him in feigned annoyance but chuckled. "No, I just got bored. I wanted to do other things and go different places. I was lucky enough to be able to choose what I wanted and have the means to do it, so I took advantage." She left it at that.
They arrived at her apartment building, and Max took care of the luggage while Jennifer showed Jonathan inside. Her apartment had been vacant for months, so the air was a bit stale. Jonathan offered to open some windows, and Jennifer wanted to call her answering service to see if there was any word from her father about meeting him for dinner tomorrow.
It was the answering service that gave her the rather unpleasant message. Apparently Aunt Renee had called. And she wasn't happy.
"Jonathan," Jennifer called.
His head appeared in the doorway from the kitchen to where she was seated by the phone in the living room. "Yes?"
"I got a message from my aunt to call her as soon as I got home, and I'd better call her. I'm going to use the phone in the bedroom, if you could give me a few minutes."
"Of course. Take all the time you need. I'll help Max with the bags. We'll leave everything out here so we won't disturb you," he replied.
She felt mollified by his response. "Thank you, darling." With that, she went down the hall to her bedroom.
Jennifer's head was filled with Aunt Renee. Her mother's sister had lived nearly all her life in various parts of Europe, even remaining in Paris during the war. But when Jennifer's mother died, Aunt Renee became much more present in Jennifer's life. She certainly wasn't a motherly figure by any means, but she would visit and write and send Jennifer presents. She was the only constant female presence in Jennifer's life during her teenaged years. And she had been the only one Jennifer could turn to with her romantic troubles, few and far between as they were. Aunt Renee had been married four times, but as far as Jennifer knew, she'd gotten divorced from the fourth one and hadn't found number five yet.
Somehow, Jennifer already knew what this call was about. Pa had surely contacted Aunt Renee about Jennifer's engagement, and she was probably upset that Jennifer hadn't told her personally. It had probably hurt her that Jennifer hadn't informed her aunt herself. But the last week had been a whirlwind. Actually, it being Monday, Jennifer hadn't even known Jonathan a whole week yet. So really, how could Aunt Renee be upset Jennifer hadn't told her?
Determined to get this all cleared up, Jennifer dialed the number that had been left. It was answered on the third ring with Aunt Renee's beautiful lilting European voice. "Hello?"
"Aunt Renee, it's Jennifer. I just got home to New York and I got your message that you wanted me to call you."
"Yes, and a good thing you did! Oh Jennifer, how could you!?" she cried.
Her aunt was always rather dramatic. It had helped when Jennifer had needed to learn what kind of force writing a book and selling a book would be. It was less helpful in situations like this. Jennifer tried to placate her. "I take it Pa told you about my engagement."
"Your father called me right away and said you were returning to New York and you were getting married to a man you met two days ago!"
"Well, it's been five days now," she explained. "And I'm sorry I didn't call you while I was in London and tell you right away. I should have. But if it makes you feel any better, the only person I've told is Dad. I wasn't excluding you on purpose, I promise."
"You can tell me whenever you want to tell me things, but what is upsetting is what you are doing, Jennifer!" The dramatics were out in full force. "How could you even think of marrying a man you've just met!?"
Jennifer frowned. "I fell in love. We fell in love," she corrected.
"After two days? I think not."
"You mean to tell me that you, of all people, don't believe in love at first sight? That you've never fallen in love the first night you met a man? That you've never known within two days that you wanted to marry him?" Jennifer fired back. The hypocrisy was a little offensive to her mind. Though maybe she was a little jetlagged and irritable.
Renee answered, "Yes, Jennifer, I have done all those things. And look how it has turned out for me. Look what has happened to me being so foolish about love. You have always been so smart and focused on your career. You have never let things distract you. But now look at you, making these terrible mistakes! You are supposed to be much better than me, to learn from my mistakes so you do not make them yourself!"
Jennifer faltered. If things were reversed, if Aunt Renee had called Jennifer to say she'd met a man and got engaged to him after two days and was ready to marry him after knowing him for less than a week, Jennifer would have done everything she could to slow things down. It was insane. What she and Jonathan were doing was insane. And yes, she was smart and driven and focused. And yes, she had fallen madly in love with a man who made her want to jump into things that she never would have considered otherwise. Did that mean that Aunt Renee was right? Was Jennifer making a mistake?
A sigh came across the phone. "Jennifer, do you really think this is wise? Do you really know this man enough to love him? Enough to live with him for the rest of your life?"
"I think I do," Jennifer answered. But she heard the uncertainty in her own voice that betrayed her words.
"You think? You do not know?"
And that was the thing, wasn't it? How could she know after such a short time? Maybe Aunt Renee was right.
Max was doing inventory in the kitchen and Jonathan browsed the bookshelves while Jennifer was on the phone. It was a little strange to him that she had been so unbothered by having him in the room when she called her father to tell him about the engagement but now something was happening with her aunt that she needed privacy for. Well, it certainly wasn't Jonathan's business, but he was curious.
More curious, though, was the fact that there were three books on the shelf by Jennifer Edwards. Jonathan pulled them out one by one and saw the back cover of each with a big, beautiful picture of the author. Jennifer Edwards. His fiancée.
A door opened down the hall and Jennifer appeared in the living room. "You never told me you'd written a book, let alone three!" Jonathan exclaimed.
"Hmm? Oh, yeah, and I'm working on the fourth," she answered distractedly.
Jonathan hadn't noticed immediately that she looked distressed, but he noticed it now. He put the books back on the shelf and hurried over to her. "Jennifer, is everything alright? Did something happen to your aunt?" He took both her hands in his.
Jennifer searched his face, still looking upset about something. "Oh Jonathan," she murmured softly. She let go of his hands and walked past him to sit down on the sofa.
He wasn't sure what was happening, but he wanted to help her if he could. He came to sit beside her and waited.
"It's crazy, what we're doing. You know that, right?" Jennifer said.
"What's crazy?" he asked.
"You and me! Us! I mean, a week ago, I was doing research about you in Forbes Magazine and trying to find a way to talk to you to get a story. You were an interview subject. And now you're in my apartment and we're engaged to be married. It's insane!" she exclaimed.
Jonathan's stomach churned anxiously. "I know it's been quick, but…" He didn't want to finish that sentence. Not when she was like this. He took at different tack. "Are you having doubts?"
"Well, aren't you?" she asked in return. "Even a little bit?"
A cold shiver of panic went down his spine. "No," he answered resolutely. And that was the first time since he'd asked her to marry him that Jonathan had lied to her.
Because the truth was, of course he had doubts. Of course he worried that he'd thrown too much of himself at this woman, fallen too hard too fast. Of course he doubted whether he could truly make room in his life for someone. And the thing he doubted most was whether—tomorrow or next week or in six months or in five years—she would still love him. There was a reason Jonathan had never been in love before. Everyone he ever loved had left. It just hurt less to keep to himself.
"How can you be so sure we aren't making a mistake?" she asked worriedly.
"Because I love you." And that was the truth. Jonathan loved her desperately, even in just these last five days. He never tired of her company. He wanted to make love to her every minute of every day. He wanted to talk to her and hear what she had to say about everything. He closed his eyes and saw her. Her voice was the sweetest sound. Her kiss made him tremble with desire. Everything he learned about her, every moment they spent together, only made him love her more. And that had never happened after five days with any person before.
"People fall in love all the time," Jennifer countered. "Just because two people love each other doesn't mean they should get married. And even people who have known one another for years still don't always know enough to marry each other. We met and fell in love so fast, and there's so much we don't know."
Jonathan felt his anxiety bubble up inside him. He wanted to grab onto Jennifer and hold her and never, ever let her go. He couldn't let her leave him. He couldn't bear it if she did. If she left him, he would hide away from the world and become a hermit recluse in a penthouse somewhere and never be seen by society again. He wouldn't want to live if it wasn't with her.
But obviously that was insane. His panic wasn't going to get the best of him. And rationally, of course, he knew he couldn't say any of that to her. He couldn't put her in that position, couldn't beg her to be his wife if that wasn't what she wanted. As much as he was desperate to keep her with him, he would break his own heart if he did something that he knew would make her unhappy.
So instead, he just said, "I know I love you." He continued, laying out the facts. "I know I want to spend every single day of the rest of my life with you. I want to go on adventures together, I want to sit at home by the fire and have a quite night together, I want to take you out dancing and to dinner and buy you jewelry and make love to you." Jonathan reached out and took her hand, still needing to hold onto her in some small way. "From that first night when you were just Louise Tobin to me, I couldn't see my future without you. I know that," he added emphatically. He swallowed hard and then said, "But if you aren't sure, if you need more time, you just say the word. Max and I will get a hotel. Or we can go to LA and you stay here. Whatever you want. I'll wait till you're ready. I just want to make you happy, Jennifer. And I know you love me, too, but we don't need to do anything until you know for sure."
She stared at him. Her eyes, her beautiful perfect hazel eyes, welled up. "Oh Jonathan." She threw her arms around him and hugged him close. "Jonathan, I do know. It's crazy, but I know. If this were happening to any two other people in the world, I would agree with my aunt that this is a huge mistake, but how could I possibly doubt that we're perfect for each other? My god, I would have married you in London yesterday if you'd wanted to. Even the idea of you and Max leaving now to go to a hotel or back to LA without me just makes me sick. I know I love you, and I know we're going to be happy and in love for the rest of our lives," she proclaimed.
She lifted her head and kissed him. The kiss immediately was desperate and hungry. He deepened it, hoping to impart all his love for her through it.
Jennifer pulled back slightly. "Jonathan, you remember the other night when you said once you started making love to me, you'd never stop?"
He continued to kiss her through her words, but he was vaguely coherent enough to process what she said. He lifted his head to look at her. "Yeah?"
"Let's do that again," she said.
Jonathan stood, picking her up in his arms and carrying her down the hall to her bedroom. He hadn't even seen the room yet, but he'd look at it later. And Max was still in the kitchen, but he'd make himself scarce for a while. It wasn't like he didn't know his way around New York.
Right now, all that mattered was Jennifer and making sure she knew how much he loved her and how sure he was that they would have a happy life together forever.