"I don't know how I'm gonna survive marriage, darling, I really don't," Jennifer laughed, pausing only to take another sip of her champagne.
Jonathan laughed with her, but she could tell he was a little taken aback. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Well," she said, "I've been smiling so much, I think my face might split open." Jennifer's cheeks were aching but she didn't care. She and Jonathan were in the crowded penthouse living room, filled with their friends. It was their engagement party. The champagne was flowing, the appetizers were wonderful, the music was lively, and Jennifer couldn't stop smiling. "I mean, is it possible to die of happiness?" she asked her fiancé.
"I don't think so. If it was, I'd certainly be a goner already," Jonathan replied.
"Oh you two are awful!" came a cackling voice. Jennifer turned to see Deborah Mercer approaching as she eavesdropped on their conversation. Deborah, with her perfect blonde hair and her bright blue eyes, was smiling and laughing. "Honestly, you're so in love, it's almost hard to watch."
Jennifer hugged her friend, laughing. When they pulled apart, she introduced her. "Jonathan, have you met Deborah? She and I lived in the same hall at Smith. My roommate spent all her time with her boyfriend and Deborah's roommate was a shy hermit, so she and I ended up spending all our time together our freshman year," Jennifer explained.
Deborah laughed again, a loud but joyful sound that Jennifer loved. "You know, I was the one to convince her to go by Jennifer instead of any nickname," Deborah told Jonathan.
"That's right!" Jennifer recalled. "Everyone called you Debbie, and you thought that Deborah was more grown up, so I did the same thing!"
Jonathan was quite amused by that. "Did people used to call you Jenny?"
Jennifer scrunched up her face. "Thankfully not often, but I am glad I took Deborah's advice."
"Though you didn't take my advice about Mark, and seeing you with Jonathan now, I'm so glad," Deborah added with another one of her cackles.
"Oh god," Jennifer groaned.
Deborah proceeded to tell Jonathan all about the Yale football player who had met Jennifer at a party and pursued her relentlessly. All the girls thought Jennifer was crazy for turning him down, Deborah especially. But Jennifer wouldn't give in. And her friends were never satisfied when Jennifer just told them she wasn't interested in him. She wouldn't tell them the real reason because she didn't want anyone to try and tell her it didn't matter. The real reason she had never gone out with Mark was because at that party where they met was at someone's house, Jennifer had seen Mark and one of his football buddies lock the pet dog in the closet and laugh when the poor dog started whining. She could hardly bear the sight of him after that.
When Deborah left to get a refill on her drink a minute later, Jennifer turned to Jonathan. "Have you ever had pets?" she asked.
His confusion over the abrupt change in conversation was apparent. "Not really."
"You don't like animals?"
"No, I love animals. I always wanted to have a dog when I was a kid. Made friends with a stray when I was at Mission Street, actually. But I just never thought my life was stable enough to have a pet, between jobs and college and the Navy and all the travel for the company now. Dogs especially need a lot of attention, and I just didn't have the time to devote, and that wouldn't be fair," he explained to her.
Jennifer felt herself melt for him all over again. "Maybe after we get settled in a house after we get married, we can get a dog."
Jonathan's whole face lit up. "I think that's a great idea."
Unable to help herself, Jennifer leaned in to kiss him.
"Oh darling, look at you! Look how happy you are, look how beautiful the two of you are together!"
They pulled apart to find Aunt Renee with her gorgeous red hair and designer dress and perfect makeup. Jennifer was too happy to see her aunt to possibly be annoyed over this change in attitude towards Jonathan. The two women embraced each other warmly.
"Aunt Renee, this is Jonathan. Jonathan, my Aunt Renee," Jennifer introduced.
"Jonathan, it is so very good to meet you. I don't know if Jennifer told you that I was so worried about her, getting engaged after only two days! Our Jennifer has always been so smart and has such a good head on her shoulders, I could not believe she could do something so foolish!" Renee said in her typical enthusiastic European lilt.
Jennifer had to use all of her self-control—which was pretty limited at the moment, given how much champagne she'd had—not to roll her eyes or say something rude to her aunt.
But Renee kept going on to say, "But I see you here, Jonathan, and I talk to your friends, and I know you are a wonderful man. They all say such nice things about you!" She leaned in almost secretively and added, "I know this already, though."
"Know what?" Jennifer asked, curious as to what was causing this change of tune.
"I spoke with your father, Jennifer," Aunt Renee said. "I am sorry he could not be here, but I know his work keeps him so busy. We will see him for the wedding in just a few months, I know."
"Yes, we will. But what did Dad say?" Jennifer pressed.
Renee laughed delightedly. "Oh Jennifer, you know your father adores Jonathan! How could he not, a man so kind and smart and successful. Your father told me that it is plain to see after only five minutes that Jonathan loves you as much as your father loved my darling sister. Maybe even more, he said."
Jennifer wasn't sure what to think about that. She was pleased, of course, that her Pa had developed such a high opinion of Jonathan after their dinner all together in New York and that he'd told Renee about it. To hear her relationship with Jonathan compared to the love her parents had shared was quite another thing. Her parents had loved each other deeply, she knew. But their time together had been cut so short. And Dad had never gotten over it. Jennifer could not even dare to think about ever being alone in the world without Jonathan. And while they were both in excellent health, there was no way to know what the future might hold. And, of course, the fact that her romance with Jonathan had been full of gunshots and threats and car chases before they made it out the other side and he asked her to marry him meant that danger of another sort might find them one day, too.
But this was a happy occasion, their engagement party. She and Jonathan were about to start their lives together. And they had a lifetime of more happiness to come.
Jonathan finally said goodbye to the last party guest. He had trouble keeping them all straight after a few glasses of champagne. His friends and colleagues he knew, obviously, but Jennifer's friends from all over the world had come into town to celebrate with them. There was Deborah, the friend from Smith. And Jonathan had also met Carol from boarding school, Julie from the Sorbonne, Alice from a small town newspaper where Jennifer once worked, and Nancy from New York. There were other friends and former coworkers and a cousin or two that Jonathan had met as well. They were all lovely women, and all sang Jennifer's praises and were so happy for her. Jonathan liked them all very much. And, of course, Jonathan also met Jennifer's Aunt Renee. Jonathan didn't know how to feel about her.
But he had years and years to get to know everyone in Jennifer's life better. They were embarking on this wonderful adventure of marriage together, and he could hardly wait. They'd only known each other for six weeks, but it felt like a lifetime and the blink of an eye all at once. And two months from now, they'd be married. Time couldn't pass quick enough for Jonathan. The wait till September 25th seemed endless.
"I am exhausted!" Jennifer announced, coming out of the kitchen. "Max is taking care of everything with the caterers, so I think we can go pass out in bed."
"Come here," Jonathan beckoned, moving away from where he'd been in the foyer to see the guests off and reaching out his hand to Jennifer.
"What?" she asked, gravitating toward him and taking his hand.
"I realized something," he said, wrapping his arms around her.
Jennifer put her arms around his neck in what was now a very familiar position for them. "What's that?"
"We had a band here, but with all the people we were busy talking to, I didn't get to dance with you."
"Oh dear," she replied with a frown. "You're right. And the band already packed up."
"Well, we've still got a perfectly fine dance floor in the middle of the living room. Why don't you pick out a record and put it on so you can dance with me?" Jonathan suggested.
"After this long night, you still want to dance?" she asked in surprise.
"With you, I always want to dance." He leaned in to kiss her softly. "Do you want me to pick the music?" he whispered.
Jennifer pulled back. "No, I know exactly what I want." She made her way over to the stereo and the shelves where they kept their now-combined record collection. It only took Jennifer a moment before she found the album she wanted. Before she put it on, she turned back to him and asked, "Are you sure you don't want to get more comfortable first?"
Of course, when she turned around, Jonathan was already taking off his tuxedo jacket and undoing his bowtie. "I'm plenty comfortable," he told her.
She chuckled at that. "Alright, fine." She started the turntable and kicked off her shoes before returning to him. "How's that?"
"Just as long as I can dance with you in that dress, I'm happy."
Jennifer grinned up at him, having lost anything close to equality in their height by removing her high heels. "You like the dress?"
Jonathan wrapped his right arm around her waist so he could put his hand flat on her bare back where the material exposed her gorgeous skin. "I love the dress," he replied.
And it really was an incredible dress. They'd found it when they went to Versace on the same day they bought Jennifer's car. Jennifer seemed to love wearing red, and Jonathan loved to see her in it. And this gown had a soft, flowing skirt with a high slit up the side, paired with a plunging neckline and an open back. Half of the dress had big red sequins that reminded Jonathan vaguely of a mermaid. It had looked great on the mannequin. It looked even better on Jennifer. This was the one things he bought on Rodeo Drive that day that she hadn't tried on to show him, and he'd been eager to see her in it.
He was not disappointed. Not that there was any chance of that. This dress in particular was so gorgeous on her. Seeing her wear it all evening had been extremely distracting. More than one of Jonathan's friends had teased him about the way he stared at his fiancée all through the engagement party. It didn't matter that he got to see her almost every minute of every day. It didn't matter that they hadn't spent a single night apart in six weeks. He was as enthralled by her now as he'd been when she was Louise Tobin ordering a double vodka martini.
"Oh this is the song I wanted you to hear," Jennifer said, taking him out of his musings. He'd hardly paid attention to the music, though they'd been quietly dancing to the ballads for a few songs now.
"What song is it?" he asked.
"This is Helen Reddy's album that came out last year," she explained. "And I was listening to it again last week while I was working and—"
"You listen to music while you're working?" Jonathan interrupted.
"Sometimes. It helps me focus if I have a lot of distractions around. But anyway, I had this record playing and I was switching between interviews to review when the lyrics of this one caught me and made me think of you."
Jonathan allowed himself to listen to the lyrics of this song, since she'd said it made her think of him. It was an incredibly romantic song, and the melody was lovely. Something about Helen Reddy's voice was so warm and gentle. He could see why Jennifer liked her so much.
As they gently swayed in time to the beat, Jennifer began singing along softly, "Loving so warm, moving so right, closing our eyes and feeling the light. We'll just go on burning bright, somewhere in the night."
The end of the song brought the end of the side. Jennifer made a move to go flip it over, but he stopped her. "I want to make love to you right now," he said.
In a different mood, perhaps after a different song, he would have made an innuendo, some risqué euphemism to make her laugh and turn her on in equal measure. But listening to that song, knowing she had thought of him when she heard it, Jonathan was not in a playful mood. He wanted only to kiss every part of Jennifer he could reach in this dress and then gently take it off her and make love to her slow and deep all through the night.
Jennifer did not respond. She reached up and tangled her fingers in the hair at the nape of his neck and gently pulled his head toward her. Their lips met, and even though the turntable had stopped spinning, Jonathan could hear music play.