10: Separate Rooms, Please

A few days before they were to fly to Australia for their getaway trip, Greg hosted some of his friends at his place. He was sitting at his worktable and everyone else was in the living room, including Shirley and Craig.

Craig happened to mention the sketches of her house during a part of their conversation. Naturally everyone wanted to see them so they all went to the work table and Greg- after getting the ok from Donna- showed them the original drawings of the outside of the house. Greg placed them in front of him and Donna was on the other side of the table with Craig and Shirley, who had already seen the sketches.

All his guests looked at the pictures and wowed. Then one friend of Greg’s- an avid fan of anything concerning Donna- noticed something delightful, for he actually called it that.

“Would you look at that delightful detail there in the window!”

“Donna, come here, did you draw these people?” another person said, pointing to another window.

Greg, still sitting on the stool in the centre, looked across at Donna, noticing how reluctant she was to examine the people they both knew she had drawn however many years ago.

As she rounded the worktable, they pushed her towards the centre of the group until she was between Greg’s legs. Then they slid the drawing into her hands.

“There. That couple embracing- did you draw them?”

She bent over silently, much to Craig’s amusement and Greg’s discomfort.

“No,” they heard her say. “I didn’t draw that.” She straightened up, putting a hand on Greg’s knee as if to steady herself.

“The woman kind of looks like you,” the man who started it insisted.

Donna’s hand tightened on his leg.

“Does it?” she asked in an odd voice. “I had a lot of creative friends in college. Probably someone playing a joke on me...”

“Does the man look like me?” Greg asked.

“No.”

“Then no more talk of this man who is embracing my fiancé. My ego won’t allow such talk in my house.”

Everybody laughed and agreed the house was going to be beautiful. The avid Donna fan reverted to his original observation. “That is a cradle in the other room right?”

They didn’t need Donna to tell them that it was.

“Is there something you two are hiding?” he asked slyly.

“Yes,” Greg said.

Even Donna turned to look at him.

“That’s going to be the nursery that houses our eight children,” he said deadpan.

Craig and Shirley burst out laughing. Donna grinned too and poked Greg.

“You just want to see me fat!”

And the moment passed. After the guests left, Greg didn’t bring it up and Donna left to go to her apartment with her secrets intact.

The first three days of their retreat were spent in a hotel suite in Sydney, overlooking the crowded beach. They both had business to take care of and so they had adjoining rooms- which had made the lady at the front desk smile at Greg.

“She probably thinks you’re saving it for your wedding night and I respect that,” Greg snorted.

“Ha. Either that or she’s hoping she can help you out personally,” came the wry reply.

He put his arm around her shoulders in the most casual fashion. “Damn. We must be two of America’s hardest cynics. What if she was just being friendly?”

On the third day, Donna was through searching for, selecting and shipping materials for her new ethnic city line but Greg was still busy. So she left him a message saying she was by the pool. She took a quick swim then decided the weather was warm enough to touch up on her fading tan.

Unwrapping her towel she stretched out on a lounge chair and closed her eyes. Moments later someone was standing in her sunshine.

“You should be more careful with you stuff,” someone with an Aussie accent said.

“It could get stolen,” another one chipped in.

Her eyes flew open and she sat up, her hand reaching for her Louis Vuitton purse, looking at her company second.

Three blond-haired golden-skinned hunks in shorts stood at her feet.

She smiled. “Thanks.”

She looked in her purse- everything was still there. She took out one item and slipped it on her finger.

At sight of her engagement ring the three groaned.

“Look at that, mates.”

“Not only is she taken- he’s a rich bloke too.”

Donna laughed. “Sorry. But you can still join me for a drink.”

“Sure!”

She called over a staff member and ordered a Harvey Wallbanger for herself and the three men- Joe, JJ and Jon- ordered beers.

She asked them what was done for fun in Sydney.

“Party or surf,” Joe joked.

And while they were telling her all the hot spots and where they’d be, Greg appeared.

Donna looked up and smiled. “Hey.”

She hadn’t realised just how big or muscular he was! He was wearing a simple t-shirt and shorts but the fabric stretched across his chest and brought all her attention to his physique.

“Hey.” He nodded when Donna introduced him as, “My fiancé Greg.”

He held out his hand to Donna. “Let’s go, baby.”

“Where?” taking his hand.

“Upstairs. I have something to show you,” he said. “Nice meeting you guys. See you around.”

“Bye,” they chorused, nonplussed at how easy it seemed to get the hot girl when you had the money and a solid body like that man Greg did.

“Thanks for the advice,” she said, handing Greg her clutch and towel so she could tie her sarong.

Once they were out of earshot, he asked her, “What advice?”

“To keep my belongings safe.” Pause. “What do you want to show me?”

“My sexy smiley-face boxers?”

“Greg!”

“I’m kidding, D. I don’t even own boxers- geez! You’ll see. Just promise you won’t cry.”

“What?”

“You’ll see,” he smiled smugly.

They went into his hotel room and headed to the desk. The first thing he did was hand her a small stack of photos.

“These are all of the house.”

“Yeah, most of them. Just an update. Keep looking.”

“Oh my god! Greg,” she exclaimed, putting a hand to her mouth. “This is my cradle.”

“The one in your drawing, yes.”

She turned to face him. “Where did you find it?”

“On a tree,” he smiled.

She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

“Where is it? How did you-?”

“It’s on the way to America.” He saw disappointment in her eyes. “As for how I got it made, I gave this fellow a copy of that part of the drawing so that he’d duplicate it as well as he could.”

“Wow, thank you,” she beamed at him and threw her arms around him in an uncharacteristically girlish gesture and kissed him.

He was bemused.

“Oops!” she gave him a wry smile. “Call it an impulsive gesture.”

“Not at all, Donna. You should think of this leg of the trip as a first date.” He smiled at her cautiously, hoping she would understand how weird this was for him. “After all we have to have a child to put in that crib. It won’t happen when we’re sitting on opposite sides of the room from one another, acting like brother and sister. It’s called foreplay.”

She stood on tip toe again and murmured against his lips. “I’ll do anything to get my baby and cradle.”

“Why do you make me feel like you’re getting more out of this pending marriage than I am?”

Donna’s smile faltered and she turned away from him.

“Donna?” Greg frowned watching her walk to the window.

After a silent moment she looked over her shoulder. “What gave you that idea?”

Greg hesitated, then he merely shrugged. “Forget I said that.”

Donna shook her head. “Did you ever feel Diana was holding something back from you?”

Greg’s expression went from concerned to unreadable to blank, his eyes cooling considerably.

“Are you pregnant already too?”

Donna’s face turned white. He knew and she felt frozen to the spot.