CHAPTER 20 THE PRESS
By 7:00 PM, they were on the train back to New York, well into their trip home. She was dozing off to the sound of the train on the tracks, the coziness of
their car, and the fact that she had her head on his shoulder. He kissed her, closing his eyes. They actually fell asleep for forty-five minutes before a porter
came through their car announcing the next stop.
Grace awoke to the sound of the porter and a resounding whistle from the train. She squeezed Oliver's arm, and he roused from his dozing. "Dear, we are
about 30 minutes from Grand Central…" He answered, with his eyes still closed: "Okay, Miss Farrell." He was smiling. She looked at him and laughed. He kept
his eyes closed and she kissed him. He opened them to look at her, and she asked: "Miss Farrell?" He smiled and said: "It is not going to be very much longer
that I will be able to call you that." She smiled at this. "Well, that's true. I will miss it, but I will have a new name that I will love." She leaned into him again,
his arm around her shoulder. She said: "I want to congratulate you on pulling off the surprise of the century, love.." She sat upright and kissed his cheek. He
turned his face to hers and said: "Thank you, love….did I really take you by surprise? You had no clue?" he looked at her with his brows arched in a
questioning expression. She smiled, and shook her head 'no'. She said: "I thought you were distracted and nervous, but I thought it was because you were
meeting my family." She paused. "For the first time – at least, so I thought." She smiled at him. He grinned back at her. "You know I had to do it the right
way , Grace. I would have it no other way where we are concerned. I wanted it to be more for you. I wanted everything to be special. Thank God for your
parents – my God, Grace, your mother is truly a gift. She was so good to me. She adores you. We have been best friends since we met. I really mean that.
Your father, too. He is an amazing man and one of the calmest people I have ever met." Grace smiled at this and nodded in complete agreement. He
continued:" … and I wanted to make right a serious wrong. Your home is where you are loved the most. I wanted to propose to you where you felt the most
love….where maybe you felt love could grow…my intention was to add to it...the love in your home..." He stopped talking for a moment to look at her and
grin. He continued: "I never – ever – knew what anything like that meant, you know? I never thought I would ever experience the feeling of …" He paused
here, searching his mind. Grace did not speak, she was thinking about everything he was saying to her. He continued: "I never thought I would have that
feeling of being home – because of love." He looked at her. They were quiet and locked into each other for a few long moments. He continued, leaning closer
to her to tell her: "Wherever you are is where I want to live. You are my home, Grace." He kissed her sweetly. He continued: "When we are married, I want to
show you something that I thought once symbolized home, you know, a place, a location, or vocation, or even fortune. Now, I know differently." She was
struck by his loving words, she felt exactly the same way. She told him, in reply, with her voice very soft next to his ear: "Oliver, just saying your name for
the very first time." She stopped to collect herself. "In the limo…I said your name, and I felt like I had found my home. There is no place but you, Oliver.
Wherever you are, you are my home, too." He pulled her close to him. "Let's make a home out of just us, together…okay? I love you, Grace." She hugged him
tightly and said: "I love you, too…so much." Grace looked at him and asked him: "When you said 'after we are married, you want to show me something'?
Like what?" He blushed. She caught it and smiled. He said: "I cannot show you now. It is on my chest." She smiled at him, tilting her head. She said: "Okay,
love." She knew instinctively he was talking about his tattoo. She had seen a tiny glimpse of something one late evening as she and Oliver had been getting a
little carried away in their lust. She had pulled on the edge of his tank top as they kissed and when she smoothed his shirt on him as she caught herself, she
saw it. Just the edges, but she saw it. She never mentioned it and was incredibly curious about it. Grace truly treated Oliver like treasure to be discovered. He
was a delight to her. She loved his jagged edges that would pop through now and then. It made him hotter to her. There were so many facets of this delicious
man to her. She couldn't wait to see this part of him and for the moment, she let it rest. It was an Easter Egg to her.
Later, in their train car, when they were able to speak more about the minutia of all the planning, he regaled her with stories of meeting with Liz and John, -
at the time he had been trying his best to not let Grace catch on. (Secretly, he felt guilty for even trying to deceive her), so, on the days he met with Liz, or
John, he was non-committal and usually chalked up his absence as his being "At the Club…", meaning his wealthy man club where he could get a work out, a
massage, a drink, a lavish meal, a cigar in the quiet and sometimes wordless company of other like-minded, wealthy men. Oliver told her this about the
planning: "I met with your father and asked him for his blessing." He was looking at her, his face serious. She looked into his eyes and said: "You did? Oh,
Oliver…that is so . . . lovely and sweet and old-fashioned…I love you for that.…" She touched her engagement ring. She thought to herself: "Yet another
reason I keep falling in love with him." She just stared at him dreamily until the porter came around again, doors clattering, people getting up to get their
belongings. Oliver and Grace stayed seated, holding hands, they had no bags and could relax until the train pulled into New York City.
Soon, their train was pulling into Grand Central Station. Oliver stood up to stretch. He smiled at Grace and offered her his hand as the car came to a stop.
There seemed to be a lot of people on the platform for a Sunday night. Oliver checked his pocket watch. There was a sudden flash from a camera outside the
window of their car. Oliver looked out and saw that the crowd was bigger than he thought. He said to Grace: "I have a feeling we are not alone."
Grace took a quick glance outside the window and saw that there were press representatives, reporters, photographers and a large crowd of onlookers. Oliver
reached over next to Grace and pulled down the shade to their window. As he did another flash went off right outside their window. Oliver pulled Grace close
to him and said: "Grace, I am so sorry….but that crowd out there? I think, is for us. I am just as bewildered as you are, and I want you to stay very close to
me. Do you understand? Darling, do not let go of me, these press people and the crowd can get dicey….oh my God…this is awful…" He was slightly alarmed –
not for himself, he had held his own with the press for years, but for her. This was her day. "Damn them!" his thoughts burned as he tried to navigate this
situation. He decided that this was yet another nonsense harassment by the press and he was not going to let them ruin his engagement day with Grace.
However, they were basically trapped in the car. Oliver pulled all the blinds down near them. He held her hand, pulling her close to him. He said: "Grace, I am
not sure what is going on, but I want you to stay very close. Do not answer questions. Do not give them a photo opportunity, ignore all of them, and most
importantly, let me forge the path. You stay close to me, no matter what, stay calm and know I will not let anything happen to you. Or me. Okay?" He was
looking at her, staring into her eyes, and he was very calm. He had his hands gently resting on her elbows, he was facing her. She was in utter off-guard
mode, the day was already so much to process and navigate. They were just trying to enjoy themselves and have a couple of hours alone after they had just
gotten engaged. Grace was beside herself with joy at the prospect of marrying Oliver. About a half-hour into their ride home, Oliver had said to her: "Grace, I
want to wear a wedding band. I know it isn't so normal for some men to wear one, but I want to wear one and I want you to pick it out. I want you to put it
on my finger when we get married." He was very serious and was looking as vulnerable to her as when he came to pick her up from the train that very first
night they were, well, 'they'. She simply leaned into him and kissed him lovingly. She had said: "I love that idea."
She had seen various press conferences with Oliver, she had seen him emerge from a meeting downtown to a pool of reporters
waiting to ask him twenty questions at once. She had seen him handle these with courtesy and brevity, his classic reply was "No comment." It was his
mantra. This evening, however, there was a bigger crowd and there were no handlers. Oliver and Grace were on their own. This was like an impromptu mob
scene. Oliver checked his watch. It was 8:50 PM. He said to Grace: "The Asp should be here by now…my God…what is this all about?" Oliver suggested they
stay put for the time being. He was waiting to see which exit would allow them the clearest path toward the staircase that led upstairs. He knew that Eddie
was most likely already waiting for them, and if he knew his driver and body guard like he thought he did, he also knew that the Asp most likely saw what
was unfolding. Oliver was praying that the Asp had brought Punjab to the station, but for that moment, he and Grace were in their train car, bewildered and
feeling vulnerable and caught completely off guard. They were not entirely sure that this crush of press and onlookers was for them, but, as the crowd got
more loud and wild outside their window, he heard his name shouted to him from a reporter outside. "Mr. Warbucks!", "Warbucks! tell us why ….." Noise,
shouting, train station sounds, bells ringing, cameras flashing, "Warbucks! People in your city are starving!" They both heard this inside their car, they
exchanged horrified and bewildered looks. Another shout from outside, the press obviously knew who they had in that car: "Warbucks! Why are you filling
your limousine with flowers and champagne while people in your own city are starving?" Oliver looked at Grace, knowing that she had heard that. He said to
her: "Grace, I am afraid to say that we have been made into a spectacle….I had planned for the limousine to be filled with flowers and champagne for us….I
can see how that might be a very bad look for this day and age…Oh my God…" He was stricken. Grace put her hands on his forearms and looked directly into
his eyes, calming him with her touch and gaze. She said: "Oliver, we have to face this. We cannot run from this. Whatever happens right here and now does
not change us at all. We have to make a plan to get out of this car, right now, and safely." She was shocked by the throng of people and press, but was not
afraid to face the situation. He said to her: "Okay, let us assess. We have the front and rear of this car, and we have the door that lets out to the platform in
front of us and to the right. Three possible ways." Suddenly, there was commotion at the platform side of the train. Suddenly, the door burst open and the
conductor and Punjab pushed into the car and with all of their might, kept the door closed behind them, almost clipping a reporter's arm with camera that was
shoved into the car. The camera flashed as the picture was snapped before Punjab had a chance to push both camera and appendage out of the train car.
Punjab looked at his boss and Grace, a look of concern on his face but he was calm and in control of himself as usual. "Sahib! Miss Farrell! I am here! You
must see this!" Punjab held out the day's New York Times, the Evening Bulletin and the New York Post – a gossip 'rag'. As Oliver and Grace skimmed the
papers and the headlines, they looked at each other in utter shock.