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He rolled off her and sat on the floor. She lay still, panting. Neither of them spoke for a minute. Eventually she sat upright. "Oh, God," she said. "I didn't know it would be like that. "
"Usually it's not," he replied.
There was a long, reflective pause, then she said in a quieter voice: "What have I done?"
He made no answer.
She picked up her drawers from the floor of the car and pulled them on. She sat still a moment longer, catching her breath, then she got out of the car.
Lev stared at her, waiting for her to say something, but she did not. She walked to the rear door of the garage, opened it, and went out.
But she came back the next day.
{VI}
Edith Galt accepted President Wilson's proposal of marriage on June 29. In July the president returned to the White House temporarily. "I have to go back to Washington for a few days," Gus said to Olga as they strolled through the Buffalo Zoo.
"How many days?"
"As long as the president needs me. "
"How thrilling!"
Gus nodded. "It's the best job in the world. But it does mean that I'm not my own master. If the crisis with Germany escalates, it could be a long time before I come back to Buffalo. "
"We'll miss you. "
"And I'll miss you. We've been such pals since I came back. " They had gone boating on the lake in Delaware Park and bathing at Crystal Beach; they had taken steamers up the river to Niagara and across the lake to the Canadian side; and they had played tennis every other day-always with a group of young friends, and chaperoned by at least one watchful mother. Today Mrs. Vyalov was with them, walking a few paces behind and talking to Chuck Dixon. Gus went on: "I wonder if you have any idea how much I'll miss you. "
Olga smiled, but made no reply.
Gus said: "This has been the happiest summer of my life. "
"And mine!" she said, twirling her red-and-white polka-dot parasol.
That delighted Gus, although he was not sure it was his company that had made her happy. He still could not make her out. She always seemed pleased to see him, and was glad to talk to him hour after hour. But he had seen no emotion, no sign that her feelings for him might be passionate rather than merely friendly. Of course, no respectable girl ought to show such signs, at least until she was engaged; but all the same Gus felt at sea. Perhaps that was part of her appeal.
He recalled vividly that Caroline Wigmore had communicated her needs to him with unmistakable clarity. He found himself thinking a lot about Caroline, who was the only other woman he had ever loved. If she could say what she wanted, why not Olga? But Caroline had been a married woman, whereas Olga was a virgin who had had a sheltered upbringing.
Gus stopped in front of the bear pit, and they looked through the steel bars at a small brown bear sitting on its haunches staring back at them. "I wonder if all our days could be this happy," Gus said.
"Why not?" she said.
Was that encouragement? He looked at her. She did not return his gaze, but watched the bear. He studied her blue eyes, the soft curve of her pink cheek, the delicate skin of her neck. "I wish I were Titian," he said. "I'd paint you. "
Her mother and Chuck went by and strolled on, leaving Gus
and Olga behind. They were as alone as they would ever be.
She turned her gaze on him at last, and he thought he saw something like fondness in her eyes. That gave him courage. He thought: If a president who has been a widower less than a year can do it, surely I can?
He said: "I love you, Olga. "
She said nothing, but continued to look at him.
He swallowed. Once again he could not make her out. He said: "Is there any chance. . . May I hope that one day you might love me too?" He stared at her, holding his breath. At this moment she held his life in her hands.
There was a long pause. Was she thinking? Weighing him in the balance? Or just hesitating before a life-changing decision?
