“Not really. But I think you ought to know that I won't be able to do quite as much of this when we go back to the States.” His eyes were twinkling strangely and Serena cocked her head to one side.
“Is that true?”
He nodded but looked indecisive. “Well, Americans just don't behave like this, after all.”
“Don't they make love?” Serena looked mock-horrified, still with that wicked gleam in her eye.
“Never.”
“You're lying.”
“I am not.” He was grinning at her. “Hell, we can't go on making love like this when we go back. My lunch hours won't be as long.”
“Brad.” She suddenly looked at him strangely. “Are you trying to tell me something?”
“Yes.” He nodded with a grin.
“What?” But she already thought she knew.
“We're going home, princess.”
“To the States?” She looked stunned. She had known that it would come eventually, but she hadn't thought it would be so soon. “To New York?”
“Only for a three-week leave. After that, my love, we go to the Presidio in San Francisco, and I become a full colonel. How do you like that, Mrs. Fullerton?” At thirty-four, Brad knew it was quite an accolade, and she knew it too.
“Brad!” She looked elated for him. “How wonderful! And San Francisco?”
“You'll love it. Not only that, but Teddy will be near us, since he's going to Stanford Med in the fall. And we'll even get home for Greg's wedding. That wraps it all up pretty nicely, wouldn't you say, my love?”
“More or less.” She lay back against their pillows again, with that same mysterious grin.
“More or less? I get promoted, we get sent home, we get one of the best posts in the country, and you say ‘more or less’? Serena, I ought to spank you.” He mockingly pulled her toward him to turn her over his knee, but she held out a hand.
“I wouldn't do that.” Her voice was oddly gentle and her eyes very bright, and something in her face made him stop pulling her toward him, as though he knew, as though he sensed it, even before she spoke.
“Why not?”
“Because I'm having a baby, Brad.” She said it so gently that it brought tears to his eyes, as he moved toward her and held her.
“Oh, darling.”
“I hope it's a boy.” She clung happily to him, and he shook his head firmly.
“A girl. One who looks just like you.”
“Don't you want a son?” She looked startled, but he was looking down at her as though she had just performed a miracle, not really concentrating on her words, just stunned by the total fulfillment he felt.
16
The car arrived to take them to Le Havre at eight o'clock in the morning. Their bags were packed and waiting in the front hall, and Marie-Rose and Pierre stood beside them, looking very starched and stiff and pale. Marie-Rose had been dabbing at her eyes ever since she had served Serena her breakfast tray that morning, and Pierre had the mournful look of a father losing his only son as he shook BJ.'s hand for a last time. It was the first time since before the war that they had cared so passionately for the people they had worked for, and the young couple who had inspired their love stood before them now, with regrets of their own. For B.J. it was the end of an era, the beginning of a whole other lifetime, as he knew only too well. During the war he had got lost, he had become someone new, found out who he was, in the anonymity of a uniform, with an ordinary name. Fullerton. It had meant nothing to anyone in the army. Fullerton? So what? But now he was going back to the States. Bradford Jarvis Fullerton III, and all that that entailed. He would see his mother, his father, his brothers, their friends, go to Greg's wedding, and attempt to explain to everyone why he was staying in the army, why it suited him, and why he no longer wanted out. He would have to justify why he didn't want to go into politics like his father, or work in the family law firm, why he was sure of his decision. And he knew as well that the silent question no one would dare ask, but which he would have to justify as well, was why he had married Serena. He felt so protective of her now as they left the safety of familiar turf in Europe. Particularly so now that she was carrying his child. But even if she hadn't been, he would have wanted to make the transition easy for her, and he knew that the first days of introduction to his mother would probably be very tense. After that he felt certain that even his indomitable mother would fall prey to Serena's charms. But even if she didn't, he didn't give a damn. His whole heart belonged to Serena now. And after all his army years his family seemed somehow less important, less real.
But all of it weighed heavily on Brad's mind that morning as he shook hands with Pierre and stooped to kiss Marie-Rose on both cheeks, as Serena had done only a moment before.
“You promise that you'll send a picture of the baby?” It was almost exactly the same thing Marcella had said the night before on the phone from Rome.
“We'll send dozens of pictures, I promise.” Serena squeezed her hand and afterward gently smoothed her own hand over the slight bulge in her lilac silk suit. Brad had already taken to feeling her stomach, to see if it had grown, almost daily, and she teased him about his fascination with his son. “My daughter,” he always corrected emphatically, and Serena laughed at him. She wanted a boy to carry on his name, but he always insisted that he didn't give a damn about the name, all he wanted was a little girl that looked just like her.
The Fullertons shook hands with the couple for a last time, and waved as the car drove away, and for an instant Serena leaned her head against Brad's shoulder as they drove down the Avenue Hoche toward L'étoile, and as she had in Rome, Serena found herself wondering when she would see these familiar sights again.
“Are you all right?” Brad looked at her with concern as he saw the serious expression in her eyes and wondered if she were feeling ill, but she nodded and smiled at him.
“I'm fine.” And then after another glance out the window, “I was just saying good-bye … again.”
He touched her hand and then held it gently in his own. “You've done a lot of that, my love.” He looked into her eyes. “Hopefully now we'll settle down and have a home. At least for a while.” He knew that it was possible that he might stay at the Presidio in San Francisco for as much as five years, or possibly even longer. “We'll make the house pretty for the baby and dig our heels in, I promise.” And then he glanced at her again as he spoke softly. “Will you be very homesick for all this, my love?”
“Paris?” She thought for a moment, but he shook his head.
“I mean all of it, not just Paris … Europe.”
“Yes. Brad, I was so afraid all the time, about the war, my grandmother, about ever getting back to Venice or Rome. I felt like a prisoner over there. Now everything will be different.” And the truth was that she had no one in Europe anymore. Other than Marcella, the only person Serena had was her husband, and she knew that her place was with him. She had called Marcella yesterday and told her that they were leaving. She had told her about the baby too, and Marcella was so happy that she laughed and cried. But she had refused Serena's invitation to go to the States with them. Serena had Brad now, and Marcella felt that she belonged in Rome. “It's different leaving this time.” She shrugged and he smiled, she looked suddenly very Italian. “I'm sad to go, but only because I know it here, because it's familiar, because I speak the language.”