‘Yes, I’d like a big family,’ she confessed. ‘So when did you tell your mother about us?’
‘Last night. I stayed at her apartment in Bondi. I flew in late, you see, too late to come up here. Though in the end, I stayed up even later, telling Mum everything. Then, would you believe it, I slept in. Didn’t make it up to the coast till after lunch. Like I already told you, when you didn’t answer your phone I rang Murphy’s Hire Car and your mum answered.’
Jess was still a bit dumbstruck by everything Ben had done for her. ‘I hope Mum was nice to you.’
‘Very nice. So was your dad, after I asked him for your hand in marriage.’
‘You actually asked Dad for my hand in marriage?’
‘I wanted to do everything right, Jess. I didn’t want anything to go wrong this time.’
‘Oh, Ben, you make me feel awful.’
He frowned. ‘Why awful?’
‘Because you’ve done everything for me and I’ve done nothing for you.’
Done nothing? Ben looked at this wonderful girl whom he loved and he thought of all the things she’d done. Firstly and most importantly, she’d loved him back, not for his money but for himself—Ben the man, not the heir to billions. She’d also made him see what was important in life. Not fame and fortune but family and community. Not a high-flying social life but a simpler life, full of fun and friends and children. Oh yes, he couldn’t wait to have children with Jess. What a lucky man he’d been the day he’d rung Murphy’s Hire Car and met her.
But Ben knew if he said all that she’d be embarrassed. So he just smiled and said, ‘Happiness is not nothing, Jess. You make me happy, my darling.’
‘Oh,’ she said, and looked like she was going to cry again.
‘No more tears, Jess. You can cry on our wedding day, if you like, but not today. Today is for rejoicing. Now, drink up your coffee and we’ll go buy you an engagement ring. There must be a decent jewellery store here somewhere.’
Half an hour later, the third finger of Jess’s left hand was sporting a diamond solitaire engagement ring set in white gold, not as large and expensive as one Ben would have chosen.
‘It’s not how much it costs, Ben,’ she’d told him firmly when she’d made her choice. ‘But the sentiment behind it. Besides, I wouldn’t like to make my very nice sisters-in law envious. They don’t have engagement rings with diamonds the size of Ayer’s Rock.’
Ben lifted his eyes to the ceiling. ‘Fine. But don’t go thinking I intend to buy a house with any constraints on it. I aim to have everything you and I want in it.’
‘Fair enough,’ Jess said, thinking to herself that that was fine by her. She wasn’t a jewellery person but she’d always wanted a truly great house.
‘Okay,’ Ben said. ‘Now that the ring business is all sorted out, take me along to that Fab Fashions store you used to work in.’
‘But why?’ she asked, puzzled. ‘You don’t own it any more.’
‘Ah, but you’re wrong there. When I sold Dad’s company, that’s the one asset I arranged to keep—the Fab Fashions chain. Dad’s partners were only too happy to let me have it for nothing. They all consider it a right lemon, but I reckon that with your advice we could make a go of it. So what do you think, Jess? Can you help me out here?’
Jess’s heart swelled with happiness. What an incredibly thoughtful man Ben was! And very clever. He knew exactly the way to her heart. And she told him so.
He grinned. ‘Andy always said that no one should get between me and the goal post.’
She smiled. It wasn’t every day that a girl liked being called a goal post.
‘Does Andy know about your dad dying?’ she asked on a more serious note.
‘Not yet. They’re still on their honeymoon. But they get back next week. Perhaps we could drive up and visit them one weekend soon, now that we’re engaged. Stay in that nice little cottage for a night or two before they knock it down. Andy’s planning on building a family home on that site in the New Year. Till then, they’re living in the main house.’
Jess’s heartbeat had quickened at the mention of the cottage, which immediately evoked the most wickedly exciting memories.
‘That would be nice,’ she said rather blandly. Wow, what an understatement! She could hardly wait.
He gave her a narrow-eyed look. Then he laughed. ‘You don’t fool me, Jess Murphy. You liked those fun and games as much as I did.’
‘Yes,’ she admitted. ‘But I think they should be kept for special occasions, not an every-day event. I like the way you made love to me that night in New York, Ben. I thought you liked it too.’