Beatrice leaned back in her chair. "Well, that is good."
David nodded in agreement and his eyes showed speculation before he carried on, "Millie was bedridden for years."
She turned to him as she said, "Oh." Her brain was processing details quickly. Obviously her research hadn't been thorough! She didn't know about Millie.
He tipped his head to one side and added, "So she couldn't come to our wedding."
How come no one told her about Millie? Millie was important in David's life. Beatrice remembered going to see his girlfriends but it never occurred to her to go and see his nannies!
Out of the corner of his eye, David noticed that their waiter was on the way to their table. Then turned again to face Beatrice. "Millie died a few months ago." He felt near to tears. But then he felt near to tears every time he thought about Millie. His neck was faintly red but his eyes were smarting with tears, so he told Beatrice quickly, "She was always an optimist but she wasn't always completely optimistic about my personal life!" He exhaled quietly, "She really cared about my marriage."
Beatrice sighed wistfully. If only she had a chance to meet Millie. An amazing woman, and obviously Millie had an influence on David. Her eyes misted with tears.
"I could talk to her, about anything. Didn't matter what the topic was. She would listen to me." He smiled ruefully, "She wasn't happy with me because I didn't bring you to her care-home. Every time I saw her, just before I left the care home, she would say 'don't forget, bring your wife!' and I never did that." His eyes conveyed abject distress "I don't know why I didn't bring you."
"How often did you see her? She queried gently having heard a hint of panic in David's voice.
He conceded with a sigh. Without intending to reveal quite so much he added more quietly, "I went to see her every fortnight." He sounded as miserable as he felt.
"She must have been really pleased to see you." Beatrice said matter of fact.
"Hind sight." He chuckled. "You remind me about her." He knew that instinctively. Beatrice's lips quirked. He trained his eyes on hers, trying to show Beatrice how genuine he was, "Kind, funny, straight-forward, independent, honest, really lovely."
As he spoke, he realised that Beatrice, like Millie had transformed his whole worldview. And both of them, Millie and Beatrice, changed him for the better.
"You are being very kind!" She said sweetly, with a trace of sarcasm. She held his gaze with clear mockery, "Anyway, how would you know?" But, at the back of her mind, she knew life was going to get hard. "Funny? Me?"
He couldn't help the grin. David knew that Beatrice was an amazing woman, like Millie. David flicked her a sardonic look, "You are smart and funny!" Caring. Fiercely independent, he continued in his mind. "Less independent, would be good!" David laughed self consciously, before he made a fool of himself. He folded his arms. "And before the waiter reaches us, I should tell you that I re-read the book that Millie gave me."
Her eyebrows quirked. Why this lapses into wistfulness? Of course she was independent. But those dominoes kept falling. Every time she thought she had everything under control. And yet, here she was, supposedly sitting for dinner to sort out her divorce and yet she was talking about David's nanny! And she felt sorry for him!
This had better not be another scam.
"And?" Long fingers tapped the table. She noted that David noted that tapping. She was not the insecure type, but, at the moment, today, she felt as if her world was in transition. Again. Like five years ago. Was nothing going to be the same?
"Patient?" He asked hesitantly. He started trying to figure out how he was going to handle this situation. He hoped their amiable, easy, conversation wasn't about to vanish.
"One of my better characteristics!"
David chuckled. "As I said, you are funny!"
She challenged lightheartedly, "Hardly." She quirked her eyebrows.
He glanced over his shoulder when he saw the approach of the waiter. Beatrice followed David's gaze and saw the waiter's approach as he threading his way toward their table.
David said quickly, "A book of quotations. And one said; The future is promised to no one" They both looked at each other. The silent queries in their eyes spoke volumes even though neither said anything. "But I think we have a future."
The waiter arrived at their table.