Tender Triumph

"Well," Katie shot back mutinously, "they didn't happen to fall into a pile of manure, get bit­ten by a goose, or kicked by a blind horse, either!" Turning swiftly to Ramon to try to defend herself, Katie was amazed to find him looking down at her with a crooked grin.

"You're laughing now, Galverra," Mr. Connelly said angrily, "but you won't be laughing when you discover that Katie's idea of living within a strict budget is spending everything she makes and charg­ing anything else she wants to my account. She can't cook anything that doesn't come in a bag, box or can; she doesn't know which end of a needle to thread; she—"

"Ryan, you are exaggerating!" Mrs. Connelly unexpectedly intervened. "Katie has lived on her own income since the day she graduated from col­lege, and she does know how to sew."

Ryan Connelly looked ready to explode. "She does petitpoint or some damn thing like that. And not well! I still don't know whether that thing she did for us is supposed to be a fish or an owl, and neither do you!"

Katie's shoulders began to shake with helpless mirth. "It's a—a mushroom," she croaked, turning into Ramon's willing arms and dissolving with laughter. "I—I made it when I was fourteen." Wip­ing at her tears of hilarity, she leaned back in Ramon's embrace and raised her sparkling eyes to his. "Do you know—I thought they were going to think you weren't good enough for me."

"What we think," Ryan Connelly snapped, "is—"

"Is that Katie is ill-equipped for the kind of life she would have to lead with you, Mr. Galverra," Mrs. Connelly interrupted her husband's outburst. "Katie's 'working' experience has been at college and in her job, the sort of work that is done with the mind, not the hands and back. She graduated with high honors from college, and I know how hard she works at the job she has. But Katie has absolutely no experience with backbreaking physical labor."

"Nor will she have, being married to me," Ra­mon replied.

Ryan Connelly was evidently finished with trying to be reasonable. He jerked to his feet, took two long furious strides, then swung around glaring at Ramon with anger emanating from every pore. "I misjudged you the other day at our house, Galverra. I thought to myself that there was pride in you, and honor, but I was wrong."

Beside her, Katie felt Ramon go absolutely rigid as her father continued his blistering tirade. "Oh, I knew you were poor—you said as much, but still I gave you credit for having some decency. Yet you stand here and tell us that although you can offer her nothing, you are going to take our daughter from us, take her from everything she knows, take her from her family, her friends—I ask you, is this the action of a decent honorable man? You answer me that, if you dare.''

Katie, about to intercede, took one look at Ra­mon's murderous expression and stepped back. In a low, terrible voice, he drawled contemptuously, "I would take Katie away from my own brother! Is that answer enough for you?"

"Yes, by God, it's enough! It tells me what kind of—"

"Sit down, Ryan," Mrs. Connelly said sharply. "Katie, you and Ramon go into the kitchen and fix our drinks. I would like to speak to your father pri­vately."

Shamelessly eavesdropping in the doorway while Ramon fixed the drinks, Katie watched her mother walk over to her father and put her hand on his arm. "We've lost the battle, Ryan, and you're antagoniz­ing the victor. That man is trying very hard not to fight you, yet you're deliberately backing him into a corner until he has no choice but to retaliate."

"He's not the victor yet, dammit! Not till Katie gets on that plane with him. Until then, he's the enemy, but he's no victor."

Mrs. Connelly smiled gently. "He's no enemy of ours. At least, he's no enemy of mine. He hasn't been since the moment he looked at you and told you that Katie will live every day of her life knowing that she is loved."

"Words! Nothing but words!"

"Spoken to us, Ryan. Spoken sincerely and with­out embarrassment to Katie's parents—not whis­pered to her in some heated moment. I can't even think of a man who would say a thing like that to a girl's parents. He'll never let her be hurt. He won't be able to give her the material things, but he'll give her everything in life that really matters. I know he will. Now give in gracefully, or you'll lose even more." When her husband looked away from her, she touched his face, turning it toward her.

His deep blue eyes, so like Katie's, were suspi­ciously moist. "Ryan," she said softly, "It's not really the man himself that you object to, is it?"

He sighed, a deep ragged sigh. "No," he said in a hoarse voice. "It's not the man, not really. It's just that I—I don't want him to take my Katie away. She's always been my favorite, you know that, Rosemary. She was the only one of our children who ever gave a damn about me; the only one who ever saw me as something beside an open wallet; the only one who ever noticed when I was tired or worried and tried to cheer me up." He drew a long, labored breath. "Katie's been like a ray of sunlight in my life, and if he takes her away, I won't be able to see my Katie shine anymore."

Katie, unaware that Ramon had come to stand be­hind her, leaned her head against the doorframe, tears streaming unchecked down her cheeks.

Tipping up his wife's chin, Ryan took out his handkerchief and dabbed at the tears on her face. Mrs. Connelly managed a smile. "We should have expected this.. .it's exactly the sort of thing Katie would do. She was always so full of joy and love, so ready to give of herself. She always befriended the child no one would play with, and there was never a stray dog that Katie didn't fall in love with. Until now, I thought David had destroyed that beautiful, giving part of her, and I've hated him for it.. .but he didn't." Tears spilled over her lashes, glittering on her cheeks. "Oh, Ryan, don't you see—Katie's found another stray she loves."

"The last one bit her," Ryan chuckled sadly.

"This one won't," his wife said. "He'll protect her."

Holding his tearful wife in his arms, Ryan glanced across the room and saw that Katie was likewise crying in Ramon's arms, his handkerchief clutched in her hand. With a fleeting smile of conciliation at the tall man who held his daughter so protectively close, Ryan said, "Ramon, do you have a spare handker­chief?"

The brief flash of Ramon's smile accepted the truce. "For the women, or for us?"

When her parents left, Ramon asked to use the telephone and Katie went out to the patio so that he could have privacy to make his call. She wandered around, absently touching the plants growing in huge redwood containers, then perched a hip on the back of one of the lounge chairs, gazing up at the stars spilling like diamonds across the sky.

Ramon came to the open glass door and stopped, arrested by the sheer beauty of the picture she made. Lamplight from within the apartment silhouetted her against the black velvet night. With her hair fall­ing in a loose, glorious tumble down her shoulders, there was a lush ripeness in her profile, combined with a quiet pride in the tilt of her chin that added to her allure, making her seem at once provocative and elusive.

Sensing his presence, Katie turned her head slight­ly. "Is something wrong?" she asked, thinking of his phone call.

"Yes," he said with tender gravity. "I am afraid that if I come any closer I will discover that you are only a dream."

A smile that was sweet yet sensual touched Katie's lips. "I'm very real."

"Angels are not real. No man can expect to reach out and take an angel in his arms.''

Her smile widened delightfully. "When you kiss me, my thoughts are anything but angelic."

Stepping onto the patio he crossed to her, his eyes looking deeply into hers. "And what are your thoughts when you sit alone out here gazing up at the sky like a goddess worshiping the stars?"

Just the timbre of his deep quiet voice stirred Katie; yet now that she had committed herself to him she felt a peculiar shyness. "I was thinking how unbelievable it is that in just seven days my entire life has changed. No, not seven days, seven seconds. The moment you asked me for directions, my whole life veered onto a different course. I keep wondering what would have happened if I had walked down that hall five

minutes later."

Ramon drew her gently to her feet. "Do you not believe in fate, Katie?"

"Only when things go wrong."

"And when they go beautifully?"

Katie's eyes danced. "Then, it's because of my clever planning and hard work."

"Thank you," he said with a boyish grin.