“I smell a man,” Rose said, smiling at her, and Alex nodded, and told her who it was, and Rose was pleased. He had an excellent reputation and an impressive career. He was a respectable person, and they loved each other. That was enough for her. And Alex was almost twenty-six years old. It was a reasonable age to find a good guy and settle down, even if not officially. Alex had told her they weren’t getting married, and Rose said it didn’t matter, and Alex agreed.
She spent the last few days in Boston, seeing everyone she loved there. She had dinner with Bert and hugged him. She spent several evenings with the nuns, and days with Brigid. And she flew to London from Boston on January 10. Miles was waiting for her at Heathrow and took her home to the apartment. Neither of them could believe how lucky they had been, how blessed to find each other, and how happy they were going to be together. Everything had worked out perfectly. More so than either of them could have dreamed.
—
She had a big bestseller that spring, a huge hit. So her work was going well and her publishers were pleased. And Miles’s project went smoothly and ended in April, and he decided to take three months off so he and Alex could do some traveling and spend time on the farm. His production company believed that he had fallen in love with Alexander Green’s assistant, and stolen her from him, which amused them. And they all liked Alex.
Brigid had the twins a month early, and they each weighed eight pounds, so it was a mercy she had had them early, a boy and a girl. She said she was done now. She had two boys and two girls, had just turned thirty-nine, and said she couldn’t handle any more but loved the family she had. They had christened Steven without her, but one of their friends stood in for Alex as godmother.
Alex finished her new book that summer. It took her longer than usual, after spending plenty of time in bed with Miles when he came home from work. And Bert worked with her on the editing as he always did. They sent the material back and forth between Boston and London. Bert said the book was her best, and Rose agreed. And Miles loved it too. So happiness was not destroying her career after all, she reminded Bert, and he growled.
The series was on the air in the fall, and had solid ratings and was becoming popular. They had been signed for a second season, and were shooting it with the same actors. Alex was still consulting but the screenwriter was doing most of the work, with scripts being sent by fax and email to Alexander Green.
Time continued to rush by. Alex wrote more than ever, always working with Bert to learn more, write better each time, and tighten her plots. She drove herself hard, as always.
They spent time at the farm whenever they could, and luckily Madeleine and Duncan, Miles’s children, liked her, and his ex-wife calmed down once she remarried and didn’t hound Miles for money all the time, which was a relief, although maintaining the farm cost a fortune. At one point Miles was considering selling it, and Alex helped him with an important amount that made it possible for them to keep it after all. He was embarrassed that she had to do it, but it was either that or sell the home that they loved.
Miles came to visit the nuns with Alex after they’d lived together for six months. They all thought him handsome and charming and Mother MaryMeg approved, although she had reminded him pointedly that they could get married in the chapel any time, and he had politely agreed, but they had no plans to marry.
He thought Bert was a character, and they liked each other and got drunk together one night without Alex. They drank tequila and rum and suffered fiercely the next day, which Alex said served them right. And she took Miles to meet Pat and Brigid, which was like going to the zoo. The kids were crying, the babies had to be nursed at the same time, Pat was looking frazzled, you couldn’t hear yourself talk in their living room. It was like being inside a tornado, but Brigid looked blissful surrounded by her babies, and Miles looked shaken when they left.
“Wow, if one ever needed a reminder why having children will drive you insane, she would be it.” He was glad that Alex didn’t want any, and felt that his two were enough. She hadn’t changed her mind about it, and he hoped she never would. She loved his children, enjoyed them when they saw them, and didn’t seem to want her own.
It was hard to imagine where the years went, as Alex wrote novels and Miles produced TV shows. The series based on her book was on the air for three seasons, and then two of the main stars wanted out to do a Broadway play and a movie, and the show had to end without them, which was the fate of most shows like it. The best thing about it was that she and Miles had met and fallen in love as a result.
Miles gave Alex a thirtieth birthday party, and all their London friends came, including Fiona and Clive, who had three small children by then. Alex still had lunch with her when she was in London and Fiona had time.
The next year passed quickly, and there wasn’t a single thing about their life that either of them would have changed.
Alex continued to help him with the expenses of the farm. She turned in a book a year and they were published every Christmas and went straight to number one every time. The nuns still prayed they would get married one day, but there was no sign of it. And Mother MaryMeg never entirely gave up hoping.
They had been together for six years when Alex was thirty-one, and much to their amazement, Miles was forty-seven, which seemed hard for both of them to believe.
They had a particularly busy spring. Duncan graduated from Oxford, and Madeleine announced the previous Christmas that she was getting married that summer, at twenty-three. Miles thought she was too young and Alex agreed with him, but she was engaged to someone from an important family in South Africa, and her mother was pushing hard for it. They owned diamond mines and her fiancé gave her a fifteen-carat engagement ring, which Miles disapproved of and thought was vulgar, and Madeleine’s mother thought was fabulous.
Plans went ahead for the wedding, and just before they left for Johannesburg, Miles got sick. He came down with a particularly bad flu and high fever and still felt rotten afterward. He was barely well enough to travel, and Alex was worried about the long trip. She insisted he go to the doctor again and they ran some tests. His physician didn’t like the results, but there was no time to do more, and they promised to come again when they got home. Miles kept saying it was ridiculous and he was fine, but he didn’t look it.