The American Lady(129)

Mrs. Stämme . . . She was extremely tempted to snuggle up in his arms and enjoy the warm glow that his words had kindled within her. Instead she shrank back. She knew her heart should be beating wildly, but she felt a surge of anger.

“Actually I had pictured a proposal of marriage a bit differently . . .” she said in a haughty tone.

He could spend hours talking about a new glasswork technique or telling her everything that Gotthilf Täuber had said on his last visit, but he hadn’t bothered using more than a few words to address something as important as their wedding! And he hadn’t even asked her. Besides, Wanda didn’t believe that her mother would be at all keen if she told her she wanted to marry. Quite the opposite: she would probably do all she could to stop her daughter from marrying a glassblower! Wanda said as much to Richard.

For a moment they were both silent. Finally, hesitantly, Richard began to speak.

“I can see that your parents might have objections to . . . well, to me. I’m not too sure of myself either. So . . . I mean . . .” He ran his hand through his hair, and it stuck out in all directions. “I’m sure that I love you, of course, but everything else . . .” He waved his hand helplessly. “Perhaps the reason I’m rushing at it like a bull at a gate is that otherwise I feel my head will explode. What can a man like me offer a girl like you? The question haunts me in the middle of the night, first thing in the morning, even when I’m at work. It’s like a great dark monster and I can hardly fight it off. A . . . clever girl like you, with all your book learning and worldliness. A New York lady, staying here in Lauscha for the rest of her life—”

“But I . . .” Wanda interrupted him, but Richard carried on. “Of course you like it here now, when everything’s new to you. But there’ll be another winter next year, that’s for sure. And then another after that. How are you going to cope with the fact that sometimes Lauscha is completely cut off by snow? Will you be so bored you start to hate me? And how will you like life in a glass workshop day in and day out? Do I even dare do that to you?” He sighed. “Sometimes the monster’s stronger than I am, and then I think we’ll never be together. But now that I’ve told you that’s what I want, I’m so relieved! Wanda, love—we can make it work! I know that we can, and I’ll do everything I can to make you happy!”

There was a note of stubborn certainty in his voice that didn’t agree at all with the doubt in his eyes. Wanda had never seen him look so vulnerable. Her heart was brimming over with love for this man, who always did what he had to do and said what he had to say, no matter what. She took his hand and looked at him earnestly.

“I’m a little scared by all that too. But it’s just as you say—we have to fight the black monster. Doubt is a dragon, but we can slay it! Doesn’t love conquer all?” she said.

He blinked skeptically. “Was that a yes or a no?”

Wanda grinned. “It was a yes, you big dumb ox! Yes, yes, yes!”

This time she let him take her in his arms. He picked her up and swung her around the room as if she were as light as a feather, whooping with joy. “She’s going to marry me! Hurrah!”

Wanda laughed happily. She kissed Richard on the lips, on his ears, on the back of his neck under the fringe of hair.

He eventually let go of her gently and raised his brows as he looked her straight in the eyes.

“There’s just one little problem—apart from the fact that we have to get your parents to agree. An organizational problem. Nothing we can’t sort out.” He went to the cupboard and came back with a letter in his hand. “From Täuber,” he said. “We can’t get married until June at the earliest. In the second and third weeks of May—”

“We haven’t even started talking about the date,” Wanda interrupted. She might have said yes but that didn’t mean she had no say in the matter! And they still had to talk about her trip to New York.

“I’ll be in Venice. Do you remember the art fair that I told you about? This is my invitation. Gotthilf Täuber wants to introduce me to some of the glassworkers there. And he’ll pay for my trip too. He says I can use the chance to learn as much as I can from the Italians and—”

“You’re leaving?” Wanda’s voice was faint. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I’m telling you now,” Richard replied. “Anyway, it’s only for two weeks. Täuber says I should . . .”

“Two weeks! We have even less time than I thought, then!” Wanda grumbled. If she ended up having to go back to New York, then she would have left Lauscha by the time he got back. And what if he fell in love with a beautiful Italian girl on his trip? Just the way Marie had fallen in love with her handsome Italian? Then she’d be left all on her own in New York and . . .