A Modest Proposal
a followup to A Welcome At Montauk
"Let's not go back." Lizzy tightened her grip on the arms that were wrapped around her and laughed.
"We have to go back."
"Why? It's lovely here."
"William, it's been raining the whole weekend!"
"I haven't felt a drop."
"That's because we've barely left the hotel and when we went out yesterday it was only so I could get soaked and you could have an excuse for getting me out of my clothes again," Lizzy said reproachfully.
"Was I so transparent?"
"Like a sheet of glass, my love."
"Let's stay anyway. I like it here," William sighed dramatically.
"Me, too; but we do have to go back."
"Why?" William pouted.
"Well, among other things, I make my television debut tomorrow," Lizzy reminded him.
"Can't they just get someone else to rattle off market figures? I want you to stay here with me."
"They're paying me to `rattle off market figures,' Will," Lizzy said as she released his arms and squirmed until she was able to turn around and come face to face with her petulant lover.
"I don't want to share you with all those other men," he said as Lizzy toyed with a lock of his hair.
"You don't have to share me with anyone, William. I'm just going to talk about the stock market."
"I know all about those men who watch pretty women who talk about the stock market," he replied. Lizzy smiled. "They always claim to be interested in the closing figures, but it'll be your figure they're really interested in." Lizzy burst into laughter and William was hard-pressed to maintain his sullen demeanor in the face of her smile.
"You sound pretty desperate, my love."
"Let's stay here," William repeated, tightening his hold on his beloved. "We can buy a place on the Sound, settle down and raise matchmaking cats and children with very curly napes and great legs." Lizzy laughed again. "We can elope first thing in the morning, look at real estate in the afternoon and start living happily ever after by nightfall."
"William! What's got into you?" Lizzy laughed.
"I'm happy," he replied seriously. Lizzy stared into his eyes. Her smile faded a bit under his gaze but he was not dismayed. She practically radiated with love for him. "What do you say?" he asked after a minute.
"I say two words: Grandma Bess."
"I'm not afraid of her."
"I don't believe you for one second!" Lizzy challenged. "And if you haven't got the sense to fear her wrath, I certainly do!"
"Nonsense! She'd be delighted if we eloped! She's been hounding me to marry you from the moment she caught you drooling over my picture." Lizzy looked up sharply. "Hey! Her words, not mine!"
"Well, she was mistaken. I didn't start drooling till I saw you in the flesh," Lizzy said teasingly. "You don't photograph true to life. Pity," she murmured as she ran her hands through his hair. William bowed his head as she did so and took the opportunity to attack her exposed throat.
"You look good enough to eat yourself," he mumbled between tiny nips and kisses. Lizzy arched her throat to give him better access. "Marry me."
"No eloping. I have to work tomorrow."
"Okay," William sighed as he began to unbutton Lizzy's top. She slapped at his hands.
"I just put that on!"
"And I told you it was a stupid idea to get dressed," he countered. He reached for the buttons again and Lizzy allowed him to remove her top. As soon as she was free of it, however, she walked away from him and into the bathroom. "Hey!" A moment later he heard the sound of water running.
"Give me a minute," Lizzy called from the bathroom. William smiled and began to unbutton his jeans. When Lizzy emerged from the bathroom a few minutes later, she found him waiting for her in the spacious four-poster bed. He was naked save for a strategically draped sheet and he sipped from a glass of the wine they'd bought on the previous day's outing to a vineyard.
"Join me?" William suggested. Lizzy shed her robe and climbed into bed. William refilled the glass and handed it to her. Lizzy took a sip of wine and handed the glass back and snuggled in his arms. For a few minutes they lay in bed together, sharing wine and companionable silence. "You're probably wondering why I asked you here," William began laughingly. Lizzy slapped him lightly on his thigh.
"The usual, I suppose."
"Yeah, well, there's always that," William said lightly. He put the glass down and pulled Lizzy into his arms. The couple made love for the third time that morning and as Lizzy nestled in William's arms afterward, she marveled at how different each experience had been. The first time had been a languid and slow meeting of hearts and minds in what William had playfully described as the perfect antidote to a dismal morning. The second had been energetic and purposive, intense and highly erotic, the third even more intense. She lifted her head to peek at William and wondered just how many ways they could find to express their love for one another. He sighed heavily just then and she rested her head on his chest and closed her eyes. "Marry me," William said.
Lizzy lifted her head and gazed at him once more. William's eyes were still closed, but his fingers lightly caressed the back of her neck. She observed him for a moment. Other than his dancing fingers, he lay still. She smiled and rested her head on his shoulder once more. A moment later William yawned loudly and stretched. Lizzy raised her head again and dodged his outstretched arm as she sat up.
"Are you done? I was very comfortable, you know," she teased as William settled. He opened his eyes and smiled and she snuggled in his arms again.
"So?" he whispered in her hair.
"So?" Lizzy repeated.
"Will you marry me?"
Lizzy raised her head yet again and this time she met William's eyes.
"Are you serious this time?"
"I've always been serious!" he said, slightly offended. "You think I go around proposing to every woman I take to Montauk for the weekend?"
"How many women have you brought out here?" Lizzy demanded.
"You're the first and last," William said, "if you agree to marry me."
"You really mean that," Lizzy said softly, her breath suddenly reduced to a small gasp of air. But she quickly recovered and smiled. "I suppose this falls within your definition of a courtship of reasonable length?"
"Oh, we reached that last Wednesday when I invited you out here," William replied.
"So why didn't you propose then?" Lizzy pouted. William reached under Lizzy's pillow and rummaged around for something.
"I didn't have this." His hand came out of hiding bearing a black velvet box.
"You bought a ring?"
"Well, not exactly. It's a family heirloom," William explained as he sat up and opened it. "It belonged to my paternal grandmother. Dad gave it to me Friday morning, just in case." Lizzy reached for the box to examine the diamond and emerald ring, but William held it away. "Ah! What do you say?"
"May I see it please?" William frowned.
"I was hoping you'd say yes."
"Oh! Yes! Yes, yes, yes!" she cried as she wrapped her arms around William's neck and kissed him. At some point he dropped the box and it was forgotten for several hours. But as William crawled around on his hands and knees to find it later that day, Lizzy realized that William had found a very special way for them to express their love and that it was perhaps the best way of all.
The End