“Yes, Father,” Diana saidquietly.
“But most importantly, what I want you to take away from what I said to you is that your mother and I do love each other very much. And I sincerely believe that you and Adam will also find love. You are both fine, upstanding people, and, with time, I believe you will find a sincere affection for oneanother.”
Her father looked over at the stove. “Now tell me, is there any more of that quite tasty porridgeleft?”
* * *
Diana had not beenable to write one word after the conversation with her father, and she had cried herself to sleep that night. When she awoke the next morning, she felt sullen and despondent. But she knew that what her father had said was an accurate assessment of hersituation.
She knew the episode with Robert had been a mistake—on both of their parts. He must certainly know that he might not marry one of her class, and she certainly knew how inappropriate any romantic relationship between them must be in the eyes of his fellownoblemen.
She would now need to walk down a narrow path. On one side, she had her obligations to Adam, and on the other side, she needed to maintain a professional business relationship withRobert.
It was not going to be easy, but once the marriage had taken place, she believed it would becomeeasier.
As planned, that evening Diana and Adam went to theCambridge Hotelfor their celebratorydinner.
The hotel was very grand, and she had chosen well to wear one of her finer gowns. They entered the dining room and were ushered to a nice table that was secluded by an arrangement of palm trees but was close enough to the orchestra to be able to enjoy themusic.
“We will start with a bottle of Piper-Heidsieck,” Adam instructed the waiter. “We are celebrating.” The waiter nodded but did not seem to be moved by that fact. “Then I think Scottish smoked salmon and toasts to start. We will order the restlater.”
“Very good,sir.”
Adam turned his attention to Diana after examining the diningroom.
“I love coming here. It is so elegant. And I cannot wait until we are in London and will be able to dine out as we please, and go to fine parties and concerts and thetheatre.”
“But we must be careful the first several years, Adam. Remember your salary will be modest, to beginwith.”
“Yes, but we will have your income as well. We will be just fine. And I was thinking when you come to London for the book signings, you might be able to stay with my parents, and we could look at flats. I will be home by then and it would be a great time to set up our living arrangements. What do you think? You will have time, will younot?”
Diana was absolutely determined to follow her father’s advice on the engagement, but she was having a difficult time enthusiastically committing herself to Adam’splan.
“I will need to check my schedule. I know we have a lot planned both during the days and manyevenings.”
“But you are not going to be promoting the book every single minute of the day. I can certainly work around your schedule. And it will be such fun planning our new lifetogether.”
The waiter returned and served the smoked salmon andchampagne.
As he was serving, Adam reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a paper which he opened and spread out in front ofDiana.
“This is to be our itinerary. As you can see our first port will be in Athens. I was thinking we might explore the Peloponnese peninsula and thenhead…”
Diana reached over and put her hand on top of his, and said, “I thought we were going to develop the itinerary together before we made thearrangements.”
“Oh, I did the research and felt certain you would like what I chose. I went ahead and made the reservations so we could be sure to have all the bookings confirmed before weleft.”
“I see,” Diana said with a smile, but inwardly seething with resentment at hisinconsideration.
The waiter, having poured the wine, asked, “Would you like to order now,sir?”
“Yes, we will have the roast beef with boiled potatoes, and I think asparagus if you have any… and let us have two side salads with that mayonnaise dressing that you do so well here.” He looked up at Diana. “That will be fine, will it not?” he asked without waiting for her answer. Then he turned back to the waiter. “Yes, thank you. That will do nicely. “Oh, and the strawberry blancmange for afters. Thankyou.”
Then he turned to Diana and smiled. “Is this not such greatfun?”
