Salomon grinned. “Okay, I’ll try.”
“And now’ you go do whatever it is you have to do and forget that I tried to inveigle you into a pub crawl.” (Twin, you’re giving up too easily.) (Who is giving up?)
“Eunice, if you really want to—”
“No, no, Jake! Your heart’s not in it. While you are in Washington I may sample the fleshpots of this decadent village but I promise you that I will be closely guarded. Shorty, probably; he frightens people just with his size. Nor will I go alone; Alec told me that he and Mac didn’t have much trouble slipp4ng the leash, and Winnie can make a fourth.”
“Eunice.”
“Yes, dear?’
“1 am like hell going to step aside for those two wolves.”
“Why, Jake, you sound jealous!”
“No. God save me from falling prey to that masochistic vice. But if you want to see the seamy side of this anthill, I’ll find out where the action is and take you there. Dress for it, girl—I’m going to shake the moths off my drinkin’ clothes. Formal I mean.”
“Bare breasts?” (Could you have done better, Pussy Cat?) (Pick up the pup, twin. I concede.)
“‘Much too good for the common people.’ Unless you intend to paint heavily, plus a lot of that sparkly glitter stuff.”
“I’ll try to do you proud, dear. But you will take a nap? Please.”
“A long nap at once and a dinner tray in my room. H-hour is twenty-two hundred. Be ready or we jump off without you.”
“I’m scared. Want help to get to sleep? Me? Or Winnie? Or both?”
“No, I’ve learned how to do it by myself. Perfectly. Though I admit it’s more fun with two pretty little girls chanting with me. You get a nap. I may keep you up all night.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And now, if I may be excused.” Mr. Salomon stood up, bent over her hand and kissed it. “Adios.”
“Come back here and kiss me right!”
He glanced over his shoulder. “Later, my dear. I don’t believe in letting women be notional.” He left.
(Who won that round, Boss?) (He thinks he did, Eunice—and you tell me that’s how it ought to be.) (You’re learning, twin, you’re learning.)
They had been lunching in her lounge. She went into her boudoir, sat down at her stenodesk to phone—picking it; rather than the viewphone because its phone was not a viewphone. She used it with hush, and with ear plugs.
Shortly she was answered: “Dr. Garcia’s office.”
“This is Mrs. McIntyre’s secretary. Is the Doctor in and, if so, can he spare a moment to speak to Mrs. McIntyre?”
“Please hold. I will inquire.”
Joan passed the time reciting her meditation prayer, was calm when he answered, “Dr. Garcia speaking.”
“Mrs. McIntyre’s secretary, Doctor—hush and secure?”
“Of course, Eunice.”
“Roberto dear, do you have news for me?”
“‘The Greeks have captured Athens.’”
“Oh! You’re ‘certain?”
“No possible doubt, Eunice. But don’t panic. You can have a D. and C. at once with no chance of your privacy being breached. I’ll get Dr. Kystra, the best possible man and utterly trustworthy. I’ll assist, there won’t even be a nurse present.”
“Oh, Roberto, no, no, no! You don’t understand, dear—I’m going to have this baby if it’s the last thing I ever do. You’ve made me terribly happy.” (Now we’ve really got something to celebrate, Boss darling. But don’t tell Jake, huh?) (Nobody, just yet. How soon does our belly bulge?) (Not for weeks, if you don’t eat like a pig.) (I want pickles and ice cream this instant.) (So don’t.)
The Doctor answered slowly, “I misunderstood the situation. But you seemed quite nervous when I took the specimen.”
“Certainly I was, dear; I was scared silly that I might not have caught.”
“Uh . . . Eunice, I can’t help feeling personally responsible: I know you’re wealthy—but a marriage contract can exclude any ‘fortune hunter’ possibility and—well, I’m available.”
“Roberto, I think that’s the sweetest—and bluntest—proposal a knocked-up broad ever got. Thank you, dear; I do appreciate it. But, as you pointed out, I am wealthy— and I do not care what the neighbors think.”
“Eunice, I am not simply accepting my responsibility… I want you to know that I do not regard marrying you as a chore.”