Rebecca wondered what Cooper had in mind. She had a few things to say herself, but was not going to be rude or pig headed about what she wanted. She was in fact none too sure about the big picture, but she did know she wanted to raise her child herself. If Cooper was to be a part of that, that was good. Excellent in fact, but if he wanted some other arrangement then he would find out just how determined she could be. She sat on the edge of the chair in the dining room, at her table. She was ready for dinner, and now just awaited Cooper's arrival. Her hands were steady, and she felt good. The shock of the day’s events was already behind her. She had dealt with violent crime in her work as a lawyer, but never of course first hand. Some of the people though were very rough to say the least. She was no stranger to violent people. She tapped the table in front of her. If, just if, Cooper moved to the UK, what would he do for a living. How would he spend his time? She had no real idea of his wealth, other than he didn't seem to have to work at anything on a nine to five basis. His cattle property was almost self managing, with the team of workers he had there already. So she supposed that he must be reasonably well off. Which was a good thing of course. She had guessed this anyway, when she discovered early on that he had turned down the offer to buy his property for what seemed to her to be vast sums of money. Only someone with no financial worries in the world turned down offers like that. So he was secure anyway. Always a good thing in a father and potential husband. She shook her head. There it was again, the word husband slipping into her thoughts. Never mind. Cooper hadn't said a thing about that and probably never would. Oh well. She smiled. It was not an unpleasant thought, but there was a lot against it ever happening, on both their parts. She was not about to give up her career to go and live in the bush. She would live in the English country side, in a suitably appointed home, on some acreage, but that was the limit. She started to day dream about stately homes. Now that would be nice. There were more than a few available on the market of course, but way beyond her means. Maybe in a few years’ time, if her career went the way she wanted it to. She was not exactly on the bread line as it was, her parents having left her rather well off, and her London apartment was worth what she considered to be a small king's ransom. But no where near enough to buy one of those old country estates with what was often referred to a the 'family pile' sitting on it, built in Edwardian or Georgian times. Times when there seemed to be a lot more money about than there were these days. She shook her head to clear the dreams and got to her feet. The thought of living in a stately home with a husband and children was very attractive, and lingered in her minds eye. Her smile gave away the futility of such thoughts. The door chimes sounded, a soft tinkling that penetrated the apartment without a raucous clanging or ringing frightening the wits out of everybody. She pressed the speaker button, knowing that it had to be Cooper. He had the keys, so why didn't he just come on up and into her apartment?
"Yes?" She said into the speaker, giving nothing away in case it wasn't Cooper. She needn't have worried.
"It's Cooper here." He said. "May I come up?"
"Of course Cooper, unless you want me to come down. I am ready, and we could go directly to dinner." She replied.
"Of course. Excellent idea. I'll see you in a moment of two. I'll wait here in the foyer."
Cooper released the button and moved over to lean on the the watchman's desk.
"Nice evening for stepping out sir." The man said. "Rebecca is a lovely girl, is she not.?" The look on his face told Cooper that this was more than a casual comment. The man was doing his job, and Cooper was after all a stranger.
"She is a lovely girl, and I hope to make her my wife. Although I'd appreciate it if you kept that little fact under your hat for the moment." Just at that moment the lift doors opened and Rebecca stepped out, looking ravishing in a long pale dress that seemed to make her shimmer with vitality. Cooper's mouth went dry. 'My God' he thought, 'she is beautiful.' The building watchman winked at him.
"No worries sir. Discretion is my middle name." He went back to his paper. Rebecca came up to the desk and nodded to the man. She knew him well of course, and didn't need to talk to him every time they passed in the building.
"Shall I call a cab?" She asked Cooper.
"No need, I did that as soon as you said you would meet me down here. It should be waiting outside now." He took Rebecca's elbow in a gentle hold, not at all possessive, but steering her directly away from the desk bound watchman. He didn't want the man giving any thing away, even accidentally.
Within a very few minutes they were installed at their table is the spacious restaurant. The soft chatter of people enjoying themselves in nice surroundings was quite muted in the open space of the room. They had a perfect table just to one side of the room, so they would not have people pushing past them and waiters clattering around them all evening. Cooper didn't mind the lively buzz of a busy venue, but tonight he wanted Rebecca to hear him clearly. A bottle of Prosecco appeared on the table in front of them, two glasses half filled with the sparkling dry white wine. Perfect as an aperitif. The table was small, and intimate. Their knees touched under the table as they both sat forward in their seats like eager school children. Neither withdrew, enjoying the discrete touch. Cooper sipped his wine, after touching his glass to Rebecca's. he smiled almost shyly and put his glass down. Not a man for retiring from a decision, he reached into his pocket and drew out a small ring case in his huge hand. Rebecca watched him quietly, her eyes growing bigger with each moment of realisation.
"Cooper!" She said, with a small note of alarm in her voice. He was already committed, and hopelessly in love. It was do or die he thought.
He took her left hand in his huge hand and opened the ring case with his other hand's fingers. He slipped out the ring, glittering in the quartz down lights above their table. The large emerald centre piece shone with a green lustre only matched by her emerald eyes, the setting of diamonds surrounding the emerald sparkling in a million points of light, reflecting in her wide eyes like fairy dust.
"Rebecca, will you marry me. I love you so much I can't live with out you now." As he was saying this he was slipping the ring on her finger. She was too surprised to pull back. Too surprised to say no. Too surprised to protest. Too surprised to realise that this was what she truly wanted. She looked at the ring, truly beautiful. No ostentatious rock, no minuscule glittering semiprecious stone, this was such a beautiful ring, she would have chosen it herself. Tears prickled her eyes.
"Yes." She whispered. Then again slightly louder. "Oh yes. Cooper..." She couldn't go on. There was a scattering of quiet applause from women at the tables around them. Cooper blushed. He actually blushed, Rebecca smiled at the mans' humanity. This was one of the reasons she loved him. Truly loved him. He was not afraid to show his emotions. He held both of her hands in his, and looked into her eyes. His eyes smiling at her. She loved that. She could see his smile in his eyes. He gave her all of him, every time.
"Plenty of time for talk." He said softly, as they sat back in their chairs, and sipped their wine together. Rebecca couldn't help admiring the ring on her finger. It was so perfect. She didn't know why, but it just seemed to say to her, how perfectly Cooper knew her likes and dislikes as though they had been together for years.
"But Cooper. My dearest. What about... what about?" She couldn't continue. Cooper held a finger to his lips and smiled.
"It's all sorted my love. It's all sorted. Let's order, and over the meal, when you feel a little better, I can tell you the rest. You mustn't worry about a thing. Your work future is safe and secured. So is mine." He smiled enigmatically and bent his head to the menu.
Suddenly waiters swooped on their table, the Prosecco was whisked away along with the glasses.
"Scusi scusi." Murmured the head waiter. "For your enjoyment, compliments of the house."
A glittering silver ice bucket, beads of cold condensation on the outside containing a dark green bottle of Dom Perignon appeared on the table along with two lovely Champagne flutes. They were quickly and expertly filled.
With a murmured "Enjoy." He backed away and was gone.
Rebecca and Cooper looked at each other and they both smiled, Rebecca giggling a little. She toasted her glass toward Cooper.
"Cheers." She said. Thinking how Australian that sounded.
The waiter appeared with note pad ready to take their order. Suddenly Rebecca was starving. She realised it had been hours, days even since she had eaten. They both ordered and the waiter left. Cooper leaned forward.
"Now, where shall we set up home? Of course you keep your apartment. You will need that when working in London, but I've a mind that something in the country would be nice. What do you think?" He sat back for a moment. Waiting for Rebecca to take it all in. He was worried that he may have said too much in one sentence.
"In the country? Where in the country?" She had visions of some ancient farm house in the wilds of rural England. Cooper pulled a magazine page from his hip pocket.
"Well, I thought something like this. Big enough to keep me busy, and although seemingly in the country side here, far enough out to give us the space when we need it. It's pretty small in terms of acreage I'm sorry, but it should be comfortable enough."
He handed the torn out page to her. She nearly choked on her greens. The place was... it was. a country estate. In Suffolk it seemed. It was a country mansion. Someone's 'family pile' that was up for sale. Rebecca couldn't believe her eyes. Then she saw the price listed on the bottom of the page. She squealed and dropped the paper into her dinner, quickly retrieving it complete with food stains starting to seep through. It was listed in the high millions, and listed at some four hundred acres. 'Not big' he'd said. That was massive in English terms, and in the ancient county of Suffolk a rare thing. Cooper was laughing quietly.
"You like it?" He asked. "I hope so, because we already own it. We can move in any time we like." He hesitated a moment. "When we are married of course." He smiled and added “There will be chickens too.”
Rebecca was speechless. She was more than delighted, but speechless. Finally, it dawned on her. He hadn't mentioned his place in Australia.
"But what of your place - your home. Your Home. In Australia?" Rebecca had a sinking feeling in her heart. What would he say.
"All fixed up my love. You won't recognise the place now. But you needn't worry. We can go back on school term holidays. Christmas times. Whenever you like. The place will continue to be managed by, well, my manager and his team. I don't need to be there." He smiled rather shyly. "I'm very rich by the way. You should know that. I hope it doesn't change things."
Rebecca shook her head. This was a fairy tale. She felt like she was in a fairy tale. It couldn't be happening. She jumped to her feet.
"Excuse me a moment Cooper." She grabbed her purse and headed for the lady’s room. Neither of them noticed half the women around them head for the same destination. Cooper wasn't worried. Rebecca hadn't frowned, and he knew already that when she didn't like something he said, she frowned, just a little line appearing between her eyebrows. She was back soon enough from the rest room, and took her place.
"Cooper, what can I say. You have taken care of everything. Everything I've ever dreamed of. Our child will have - no. Our children will have the perfect father. They will never want for a thing." She sat back in her chair, the worries of the past few months falling away from her.
Cooper had one more surprise for her. Like a magician he pulled an envelope from his pocket and handed it to Rebecca. She looked inside. Two tickets to the Amalfi Coast, and a reservation for a wedding chapel on a startlingly blue lake shore.
"Oh, we can invite who ever you like. I've booked out the hotel nearby for our visit and for the duration of the wedding and reception. That is, if you want to. You may have other plans. We can - I don't mean to take over everything - make other plans. We can just go out there for our... wedding honeymoon." He stopped. Rebecca was looking at him steadily. 'Ok, he was used to being in control of his life. But the wedding?' She thought that might be something she wanted to be involved in the planning of. Cooper sat back. 'uh oh' he thought as the little frown line appeared between her eyebrows.
Rebecca smiled again and sat back. Now she knew what worried Cooper. She decided she was going to have fun getting to know him if it took the rest of her life. She picked up her fork and popped the baby mushroom into her mouth. Cooper sat there nonplussed. One minute frowning, the next minute eating as though nothing had happened. It seemed the wedding he had arranged was ok. Of course Cooper still had a lot to learn about Rebecca…
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