“Okay then.” Rory turned to enter the lift that had just arrived with a ping when her grandmother stopped her by placing a hand on her arm.
“Oh, Rory,” Phyllis paused, a question on her face. “I’m guessing you prefer Rory to Aurora?”
“I do, but you, dearest grandmother, can call me anything you like.” Rory’s smile was the most sincere and charming Gemma had ever seen. She could see Rory inching into the lift as it stood with its door open, and she could empathise with her. Not only would Rory want some time to think about the conversation they had just had, but also, they just needed to be alone. Her fingers itched to soothe Rory, to run her hands over her back and pull her into a hug.
“I will try to remember.” Phyllis patted her hand in that comforting way of hers.
Rory got a foot in the lift and indicated for Gemma to join her.
“Oh, Rory, I’ve got one more question.” Phyllis looked from Rory to Gemma and back again.
“How long have you two been dating?”
30
RORY
Rory felt her stomach drop and looked across at Gemma. She was pale and unable to meet Rory’s gaze.
“Um, dating?” She hoped to misdirect her grandmother by sounding confused. She could never outright lie to her granny, but a bit of misdirection wouldn’t go amiss.
Gemma looked like she wanted the ground to swallow her up, and Mary’s head was swivelling between the three of them.
“Yes, dating, Aurora. The process whereby two people explore an exclusive romantic relationship.” Her grandmother looked between the two of them as Rory scrambled through her jumbled thoughts to find something to say. She had been expecting a cross-examination of how she looked or how she dressed. But in the end both grandmothers had been enormously supportive and understanding and she had thought she was free from interrogation. Until the grandmothers ganged up and blindsided them with this line of questioning.
“Oh my gosh!” Phyllis clutched Mary’s arm dramaticallyand put a hand to her chest. Rory suspected that if she had a set of pearls, she would have clutched them. “Please tell me you are exclusive, that you are only dating each other? That you’re not part of some odd poly-whatsit group thing?” Phyllis gasped again and looked ready to faint. Just as Rory was about to surge forward and support her, Mary piped up.
“Are you seeing other women Rory? As well as my granddaughter? She deserves better than that, you know.” Mary poked a finger into Rory's chest. “She deserves to be loved and looked after, not to become part of your harem!”
“Of course I’m not dating anyone else!” Rory snapped, flabbergasted that they would think that of her. “I would never do that to Gemma. I promise she is the only woman I’m dating, and I am 100% faithful to her!” Her voice raised, and she could feel angry splotches on her cheeks. How could they think this of her?
She turned to reassure Gemma and then saw the sly smiles crossing the grandmothers’ faces. Her heart sank, and she closed her eyes in disbelief. How had she fallen for the oldest trick in the book? She groaned.
“I told you they were dating.” Phyllis crowed and held her hand out to Mary. “Pay up.”
“What?” Rory and Gemma spoke at the same time, and Rory could only look on incredulously as Mary pulled her purse from her handbag and took out a crisp twenty-pound note.
Phyllis made a show of inspecting it before squirrelling it away in her handbag. “We knew it was only a matter of time after you were all over each other at the last opera trip.” She looked her granddaughter square in the eyes. “I had twenty on before Christmas, Mary had twenty on after Christmas.” She smirked at her friend. “I told you so.”
Mary shrugged. “You can crow all you like Phyllis, but ifI hadn’t asked them back to seeDie Fledermaustonight, we would still be in the dark.”
Rory stood open-mouthed at the audacity of the pair. Not only had they bet on their granddaughters’ dating lives, but they also contrived an evening out just to check up on them!
“Close your mouth, Aurora!”
Rory snapped her mouth shut and stared at the retreating forms of their grandmothers. Shit, what were they going to do now?
Rory fiddled with her bow tie and looked at herself in the mirror. She loved the image looking back at her, and a broad smile crossed her face. When she had put her suit on last time for a trip to the opera, she hadn’t realised how monumental that evening would be. Then, she was still mourning the loss of her relationship with Darcy and didn’t know who she was. Now, as she looked at herself in her tux, she realised she hadn't been sad about the loss of Darcy the person, but of a relationship where she felt valued, loved and respected. She had all that with Gemma. It was still early days, but she knew that she and Gemma had something special.
She pulled her cuffs forward so that a few centimetres of white shirt poked out from the black jacket. As well as doing her measurements and making sure the suit fitted, Charles had spent a lot of time with Rory explaining how she should wear it. She smoothed her shirt and turned to see if Gemma wanted any help. Crossing the room in two large strides, she helped Gemma slide the zip of her black dress into place. She dropped a kiss on Gemma's shoulderas she had seen in countless films and couldn't believe this was her life now. Unlike last time when they had enjoyed a picnic in the gardens, this time they were going to have dinner in the restaurant attached to the theatre. Rory hoped that there would be time for them to go into the garden. She could hopefully steer Gemma towards the sculptures again so that she could declare her love. It may be soon, but Rory knew it would burst out of her sooner rather than later, and she wanted it to be a special moment between them.
“You look stunning.” Rory’s heart swelled at the sight in front of her, not only because Gemma was the most beautiful woman Rory had ever seen, but because she was hers. They were each other’s, and Rory hoped they would be together for a very long time. She just hoped that she wasn't jumping the gun by telling Gemma how she felt.
“You don’t look too bad yourself.” Gemma pulled Rory towards her and feathered a light kiss on her lips. “Okay, you look stunningly, devastatingly hot and handsome.” Gemma fanned herself, and Rory felt a light explode in her chest. Everything in her life had slotted into place, and she couldn’t be happier. “But,” Gemma placed a finger to her chest. “If you do anything to mess up my makeup, there will be hell to pay.” She narrowed her eyes in warning, and Rory chuckled.
“Do you think the grandmas will keep our secret?” Gemma looked at Rory with concern in her eyes.
“I should hope so.” Rory responded honestly. “They both love us, and I think we explained our reasoning well.”
