“Not really. But you were pretty tight.”
“Too tight?”
“Not too tight. Just pleasantly so.”
“I’m not sure I understand that and don’t think I want to. Roberto darling, even if I did fuss over it, thank you for washing me. Only a slut leaves paint on when she goes to bed. I’m a tart but I don’t want to be a slut.” (Hi, slut!) “And thank you most of all for a wonderfully sweet night. I hope I wasn’t too drunk to make it sweet for you, too.”
“Eunice, you would be more woman passed out cold than most can manage at their best.”
“I’m glad you said ‘would be’ rather than ‘are.’ But, Roberto, I’m uneasy. Not about you and me, dear, but about Winnie. Does this affect that thought you’ve been considering? About Winnie, I mean.”
“On the contrary, Eunice, it was Winnie’s idea—her notion of how to celebrate our engagement—”
“Wait a moment! Am I engaged to you?”
“Eh? No, no—I’m engaged to Winnie.”
“Oh. Roberto, I would happily marry you, you would make a numero-uno espöso. But I don’t need one, and Winnie does. Did I know this last night? About you two?”
“You seemed to. You said that was why you wouldn’t wait to scrub off your sparklers—you wore right-now about it.”
“Roz. I remember being terribly eager but I seem to have drawn a blank as to why. Roberto? Did I spill the news about the ‘Greeks capturing Athens’?”
“I don’t think so, Eunice. Not when I was around. I’m fairly sure Winnie doesn’t know it.”
“I’ll tell Winnie; it’s Jake I want to keep in the dark.”
“Eunice? Did Jake do it? Capture Athens and the Parthenon as well.”
“Watch that Hippocratic Oath, dear. Parthenogenesis might be the answer. Let me keep this up in the air a while longer. You say this was Winnie’s idea? After you told her you would marry her?”
“Yes.”
“How did she ever get up her courage to propose? I’ve been urging her to but she’s so damn’ shy. Dutch courage?”
“Yes. But my own. Sure, she’s shy—but under her blushes Winnie is as rugged as a nurse has to be. She said All right—if I would let her tie it down tight that she is no angel. I told her I had no use for angels, in bed or out. She said she hoped I meant that, because she was about to ask Jake to sleep with her.”
“Roberto, I missed a lot of this. How much champagne did I drink?”
“Who counts? Jake kept opening bottles and we kept passing the loving cup around. While reciting that amphigory. You got your share. We all did.”
“Uh. . . am I engaged to Jake?”
“Not that I know of.”
“That’s good. Because when Jake finds out I’m knocked up, he’s going to be noble. Just as you were, dear, but Jake will be much more difficult. And I’ve discovered that I don’t need a husband; I just want loving friends. You. Jake. Winnie. Some others. People who’ll love me as I am, clay feet and all—not because of a contract. Did Jake make any fuss over the sleeping arrangements?”
“Uh, truthfully I don’t think anyone was displeased with Winnie’s suggestion. Jake picked Winnie up under one arm and announced that he was reenacting the Rape of the Sabines.”
“The faithless old darling.”
“So I picked you up and carried you in and scrubbed you and you squealed and protested and told me that was a hell of a way to run a rape.”
“Mmm, I think I was right. ‘In vino veritas.”
“So now I’m going to put a pillow over your fac4 so that you can’t squeal and protest.”
“You won’t need a pillow; just put your hand over my mouth if I’m noisy. But all these doors are soundproof.”
“You think I don’t know it? When I lived here for most of a year? Miss Johann Smith, I know more about your house than you do.”
“Oh, you bastard! Call me ‘Eunice.’ Or put a pillow over my face so I can’t hear you, Roberto—I’m so happy that you’re going to marry our Winsome.”