The Invitation (Montgomery/Taggert 19)

“Did my best to teach him some manners, something he needed to be taught.”

Part of Jackie wanted to thank him for interfering, and part of her was more than a little annoyed. Every woman wanted to be a beautiful princess whose honor was fought for by a handsome young man, who, of course, later turned out to be a prince. But in the real world Jackie didn’t like the implication that she belonged to William and therefore he had the right to do whatever violent thing he had done to Terri’s son.

Princess or no, William’s lack of reaction was taking the wind out of her sails. She wanted something from him, but she didn’t know what. “There’s a man in town who wants to go out with me,” she said, trying to sound as though this were an ordinary occurrence, but even as she spoke she knew she was trying to make William jealous. When he didn’t look around his paper, she continued. “Terri says he’s awfully nice.” Warming to her subject, she fairly purred as she looked at the newspaper William held in front of his face. “Edward Browne. Do you know him? Terri says he’s a wonderful man. Older, experienced. He was married for years, so he’s already broken in, so to speak. Must know a lot about women.”

She stood where she was, waiting for some reaction from him. After a while, he slowly folded the section of newspaper he was reading, neatly put it on top of the other sections—one could hardly tell that the paper had been opened—and opened another section.

“I think you ought to go out with him,” he said from behind the paper.

“Wh…what?”

“Mr. Browne is a nice man. My mother likes him a lot, and my dad too.”

“You want me to go out with him?” Even to her own ears there was disbelief in her voice.

“I think you should.” He looked at her from around the paper. “Really, Jackie, you need to get out more. You can’t just go from Charley to me. You need to look at the choices out there.”

She didn’t know whether that statement made her angry or just plain confused. “For your information, I’ve known lots of men besides you and Charley.”

“Mmmm,” he said. “Fancy foreign fellers.”

“Fancy…?” Those were not William’s words. It was almost as though he was quoting someone else. “What in the world is wrong with you?”

“I have no idea what you mean. You said Terri suggested you go out with Edward Browne, and I agree that you should. Have I done something wrong? I assume you do want to go out with Mr. Browne or you wouldn’t have brought it up, would you?”

What could she say? That she wanted to make him jealous? “Yes, of course it’s a good idea. I’ll…I’ll tell Terri.”

Before she could form another thought, the telephone rang. Listlessly she answered it. Terri was calling to tell her that she had just “happened” to see Edward Browne on the street, and they had started talking, and, well, it seemed that Edward would love to take Jackie to dinner tonight. Would that be all right with her? Terri asked this question as though she were asking Jackie if she’d like to be given a couple of million dollars.

Jackie refused to think about what she was doing. Yes, it would be all right, she told Terri. She’d meet Edward at the Conservatory, Chandler’s nicest restaurant at eight o’clock tonight.

“Oh, and, Jackie,” Terri said, “wear that beige silk dress of yours. The one with the gold buttons.”

“I thought I’d wear the coveralls I wear when I work on the planes,” Jackie said with great sarcasm. She’d had her fill of people implying that she didn’t know how to behave, how to dress, how to run her own life. Immediately she felt guilty for speaking to Terri so waspishly. “I’ll be there, and I’ll look as respectable as I can.”

“All right,” Terri said timidly, knowing that she had again done something wrong. But this time she felt that the end justified the means, because she knew that Jackie and Edward were perfect for each other and would fall madly in love with each other. Someday Jackie would thank her for having introduced them.

Putting down the phone, Jackie glanced at William, his face hidden behind the newspaper. “I have a date tonight,” she said and cursed her heart for leaping into her throat. She very stupidly had a vision of William throwing his paper aside, sweeping her into his arms, and telling her she mustn’t go out with any other man.

But nothing happened. In fact, William’s only comment was an uncaring grunt, so Jackie, her shoulders drooping, left the room. She missed seeing William ball up the section of paper he was reading and throw it into the fireplace so forcefully that he displaced a log, which made the front log roll onto the floor and nearly set the rug on fire. Jackie missed seeing William stamping the flames out of the rug, the floor, the hearth, and four magazines with a fury that would have wrecked a less solidly built floor. An hour or so later, when she returned, dressed for her date, William was quietly still reading the paper, as though Jackie’s leaving on a date meant nothing to him.

Jackie had to admit that, if judged by looks alone, Edward Browne was everything a woman could want in a man: tall, solidly muscular, with just enough fat on him to let a woman know that he would enjoy good cooking, broad-shouldered, slim-hipped. He had dark hair with just a bit of gray at the temples, and beautiful dark eyes. Although he was very handsome, there was a quietness about him that said he had no idea that he was attractive.

No wonder the women of Chandler are killing themselves over him, Jackie thought.

“Miss O’Neill,” he said, extending his hand. “I can’t tell you how pleased I am that you accepted my invitation. I have been an admirer of yours for years.”

“Not too many years, I hope,” she answered, eyes sparkling, but he looked puzzled and didn’t seem to understand her sense of humor.

Graciously, with the good manners that he’d probably had all his life, he held out a chair for her. There was a rather long, awkward silence as they looked at the menu. Then Edward competently ordered a bottle of French wine.

Once the orders were placed, Jackie had to keep herself from looking at her watch. This was going to be a very long evening. She hoped that William was wondering where she was and what she was doing. Sternly she reminded herself that it didn’t matter what little Billy Montgomery was doing or thinking. He was only a temporary part of her life.

“The entire ritual of dating is deplorable, isn’t it?” Edward said, looking at her across the candlelight. “It takes two perfectly ordinary people and makes them nervous

and uncertain. It puts them in an impossible situation and asks them to discover good qualities about each other.”

Jackie smiled. “Yes, I find it quite awful.”