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When she didn’t respond, I glanced over at her.The smile she bestowed on me was the best birthday gift I’d received in my life.
“I’m Katherine,” she whispered.
When I responded with, “Archer,” the person seated in front of us shushed me.I looked at Katherine again and was gifted with a second heart-stopping smile.
I fell in love that day.I might not have realized it at the time, but recollecting the very moment it had happened made it indisputable.
From that day on, mid-September through November, Katherine and I spent as much time together as our individual schedules would allow.I learned she was from Texas, where her family owned a very large ranch.I was also schooled in the etiquette of asking its size.Which, apparently, one should never do.Still, she graciously informed me it was over one hundred thousand acres—something I couldn’t begin to comprehend.
When Christmas rolled around and it was time for her to return to Texas to spend it with her family, I fell into a funk.I managed to hide it from her, or at least I believed I had, but my mum was another story.
“What’s got you so glum?”she asked when I arrived for our weekly family dinner.She cupped my cheek.“Let me guess, it’s a girl?”
I rested my hand on hers.“A woman, but you’re right.”
She pulled me over to the table and patted one of the chairs.“Tell me what’s the matter.”
“Mum, like she is a woman rather than a girl, I am a man.This conversation is inappropriate.”
“Pishposh.You’re never too old to talk to your mum about anything.”
“She’s from the States.”
My mother raised a brow.
“Which means she’s leaving on holiday.”
“Ah.I see.”
“Forty-two days.”
“Yes, I recall.”
My mum and my father had both graduated from Oxford University.In fact, it was where they’d met as well.
“She didn’t invite you along, is that it?”
I shook my head.“That would be equally inappropriate.We haven’t been seeing each other that long.”
“You could always take your own holiday.See the sights.”
I rested against the chair.“I cannot.She’d think…” What?That I was crazy?Perhaps that I was a stalker?
“She’ll think you care so much about her that you won’t be able to wait over a month to see her.”
“I’ll appear desperate,” I muttered under my breath.
“Desperately romantic, I’d say.”
“What’s this?”my father asked, patting my shoulder before joining us at the table.To my chagrin, my mother reiterated our entire conversation.
“What say you, my darling?”she asked him once she’d finished.
One thing I loved about my parents was their unabashed love for each other.You could see it in their eyes whenever they were in the same room.
“You didn’t tell him I did the same thing with you?”he asked.
She smiled, and her cheeks turned pink when he reached over and held her hand.“I was about to, but I think you should.”
