“That was brilliant. I should have thought of it myself.”
“It wasn't brilliant.” She looked amused too. “It's true.” She looked very pleased with herself, the little girl she had been only moments before was now going to be a mother. He looked stunned.
“Are you serious?”
She nodded her head and looked up at him.
“When did that happen?” He looked startled more than worried.
“I'm not sure… Rome?…maybe Venice…I wasn't entirely sure until last week.”
“Well, you sneaky little thing…” But as he held her close to him, he looked pleased. “And when is the Delauney heir due?”
“June, I think. Something like that.”
He had never given much thought to being a father. It should have frightened him, given the life he'd led of such great freedom, but the truth was he was thrilled. He hailed a cab for her, and they rode home toward the rue du Bac, kissing in the backseat like two children, instead of two prospective parents.
Her own parents were just as distraught the next day, but after two weeks of arguments, they finally relented. Marielle's mother had taken her to an American doctor on the Champs-Elysées, and there was no doubt about it, she was pregnant. The idea of an annulment was out of the question. And their daughter was certainly happy enough. And like it or not, they knew they had to live with the reality of Charles Delauney. He promised them, before they finally left, to get a better apartment, a maid, a nurse for the child, a car. He was going to become a “respectable man,” her father extracted from him. But respectable or not, the obvious fact was that the two were deliriously happy.