Chapter 11

On Sunday morning Jennie woke up in the bed alone. Before she could wonder why, George came in with a breakfast tray. Breakfast in a waterbed is also difficult, but he had an ingenious little table that in lieu of legs had a mounting bracket for the bed frame. With much giggling but no mishaps they got it all set up and George back in bed. Jennie was hungry and they ate in relative silence. The breakfast was delicious and Jennie noticed how nice everything had been arranged - there was even a solitary rose in a vase. 'My man's got style' Jennie thought as she studied it. Suddenly she discovered an ancient emerald ring around the stem. "Oh George!" she said.

George who had been waiting for her to discover it smiled. "You like?"

"I love it!" Jennie said. "It looks very old."

"It is," George said. "It was my grandmother's engagement ring. My three sisters all wanted it, but Nan left it to me for this exact purpose." He didn't mention that Lillian had scornfully rejected it 17 years ago. It had been the first indication that perhaps he had been too hasty about that girl, 'Jeez. I was so blind!' he thought. Henry had tried to warn him; it had nearly cost them their friendship, but Henry had backed off and the disaster that was George's marriage to Lillian had gone ahead.

But that was all in the past. George felt certain there was no mistake this time. He took the rose out of the vase, retrieved the ring and put in on Jennie's slightly shaking ring-finger. It fit perfectly. When they had finished kissing, George spoke in a slightly teasing voice. "Convention will have it that a man takes his affianced bride to meet the relatives immediately after the proposal. Could you bear the thought of meeting my mother?"

"Of course," Jennie smiled. "And likewise, you have to meet Mum. And Dad and Molly."

"Happily," George said. "As long as it doesn't stop us from fulfilling the main purpose of this weekend."

Jennie looked questioningly at him. "As in?"

"As in creating occupants for the nursery," he replied, removed the breakfast table from the bed and leapt onto Jennie.

After having told her delighted dad and Molly, Jennie rang her mom. Not on the landline for fear of getting Harold, but on her mum's cell-phone. Vera answered on the seventh ring just as Jennie was going to give up and there was a strange noise in the background. "Hi Mum, it's Jennie. Did I catch you at a bad time?"

"Jennie, sweetheart, no that's fine. I'm out of town - the branch manager and his wife invited me down to their cottage on the coast for the Bank Holiday. We're just going for a walk on the beach. It is wonderful here!"

"That's lovely Mum. I'm out in the country too, only not much further than Sevenoaks," Jennie said.

Jennie's mum had an inspiration "Let me guess - would that be where Mr. Sanders lives?"

"Got it in one Mum," Jennie replied.

"And how is your Mr. Sanders?" Vera asked.

"My Mr. Sanders, who you will have to learn to call George, is very well," Jennie replied. "He looked particularly happy a little while ago when he put an antique engagement ring on my finger after I had accepted his proposal."

"Oh Jennie!" her mother exclaimed. "That is so nice to hear. Congratulations to you both. When are you bringing him home so I can meet him?"

"As soon as we can do it in a stress-free way," Jennie said - avoiding mentioning her step-father.

"Anytime then," Vera said - she got the message. "I've asked Harold to be gone when I get back from the Bank Holiday."

"Oh, fine, right," Jennie said. "I'll give you a call when you're back in town then. Bye Mum."

"Bye bye darling, and congratulations once more to you both," Vera said happily and ended the call.

"That sounded exciting!" Mrs. Willard said - she was immensely sweet but very nosey and her hearing was much better than Vera's.

And Vera didn't mind one bit. She liked her branch manager's wife - she was an excellent hostess and had made Vera feel welcome from the moment she arrived. Mrs. Willard had also invited her widowed brother. He was somewhat older than Elaine but very well kept. Vera found the company stimulating. So she happily shared the news with her hosts. "It was my daughter Jennie. She rang to tell me she is engaged to be married!"

"That's marvellous Vera dear, congratulations!" Elaine Willard said warmly. "Do you know the lucky young man well?"

"No Elaine, I haven't even met him yet," Vera confessed. "And he is not so very young. He is Jennie's boss. He hired her as his personal secretary. He is a bit younger than me, I gather, but quite a lot older than Jennie."

"Nothing wrong with getting a man with a bit of experience of the world," Mrs. Willard's brother said in his gruff military voice. Major Harman had retired from the army about a year ago.

"Nothing whatever," Vera replied with a smile.

George and Jenny went to visit George's mother in a village not very far from their own where she had a charming little house with an incredible garden that seemed to take up all her time. Jennie at first found old Mrs. Sanders dotty but sweet, but over lunch at the restaurant of a National Trust estate nearby Jennie had to revise that assessment. Sweet she certainly was and without question eccentric, but there was nothing dotty about her at all - her mind was razor sharp. "I take it you know about my previous daughter in law," she said point blank when George had absented himself briefly.

"I do," Jennie said, "although I have never met her and have no desire to do so. I know a little from George and a lot from his friends of what she put him through."

"Indeed," Mrs. Sanders said. "Sins and omissions - the latter is almost the worst."

"You mean children?" Jennie guessed aloud.

"You are a bright child," Mrs. Sanders said, "in addition to being criminally good looking. Yes, children. George always wanted them."

"He shall have them," Jennie said. "And soon. I want a flock."

"Do you have many brothers and sisters yourself?" Mrs. Sanders asked.

Jennie laughed. "Had you asked me just over a week ago the answer would have been a regretful 'no' - I was an only child - my mother and step-father never gave me siblings."

"But?" Mrs. Sanders prompted.

"But then George hired a young man who got a shock when he saw me because I looked so much like his girlfriend," Jennie said - still marvelling at the turn of events and enjoying telling story. "And that turned out to be because his girlfriend is my half-sister."

"Never!" Mrs. Sanders exclaimed.

"Yes, pretty amazing, isn't it?" Jennie said. "And this girl in turn has two younger brothers and two younger sisters. So now we are six who call the same man Dad. That seems like a nice number!"

George who had returned and heard the last part of the conversation added "Yes, Jennie counted six potential children's rooms in the house and promised me to put a baby in each."

Mrs. Sanders beamed. "That is a lovely plan. I can't wait. I have loads of grandchildren already - 6 with the last addition although 2 of them live in Japan with George's oldest sister and her husband, but there is always room for more."

They ate their lunch, saw the stately home and went for a stroll in the extensive park-like garden. Jennie knew next to nothing about gardening but was keen to learn - and George's mother was delighted to share her knowledge with the lovely young woman who was going to marry her only son.

"You don't mind that I am so much younger than George, do you?" Jennie asked at one point.