‘How right she is,’ admitted the senator. He turned his attention to Ruth Davenport, who was looking wistfully at her daughter-in-law.
‘I sometimes wonder if they aren’t both a little too young.’
‘She’s twenty,’ said the senator, ‘Martha and I were married when she was twenty.’
‘But Annie still hasn’t graduated.’
‘Does it matter? They’ve been together for the past six years.’ The senator turned to greet another guest.
‘I sometimes wish...’ began Ruth.
‘What do you sometimes wish?’ enquired Robert, who was standing on the other side of his wife.
Ruth turned so that the senator couldn’t overhear her. ‘No one could love Annie more than I do, but I sometimes wish they, well,’ she hesitated, ‘they had both dated more.’
‘Fletcher met lots of other girls, he just didn’t want to date them, and by the way,’ said Robert, allowing his champagne glass to be refilled yet again, ‘how often have I gone shopping with you, only to find you end up buying the dress you first looked at?’
‘That didn’t stop me considering several other men before I settled for you,’ said Ruth.
‘Yes, but that was different, because none of the others wanted you.’
‘Robert Davenport, I would have you know...’
‘Ruth, have you forgotten how many times I asked you to marry me before you finally accepted? I even tried to make you pregnant.’
‘You never told me that,’ said Ruth, turning to face her husband.
‘You’ve obviously forgotten how long it was before you eventually had Fletcher.’
Ruth looked back at her daughter-in-law. ‘Let’s hope she doesn’t have to face the same problem.’
‘No reason why they should,’ said Robert. It’s not Fletcher who is going to have to give birth. And my bet is,’ he continued, ‘that Fletcher, like me, will never look at another woman for the rest of his life.’
‘You’ve never looked at another woman since we’ve been married?’ said Ruth after shaking hands with two more guests.
‘No,’ said Robert, before he took another gulp of champagne, ‘I slept with several of them, but I never looked at them.’
‘Robert, how much have you had to drink?’
‘I haven’t counted,’ Robert admitted, as Jimmy broke away from the line.
‘What are you two laughing about, Mr Davenport?’
‘I was telling Ruth about my many conquests, but she refuses to believe me. So tell me, Jimmy, what are you hoping to do when you graduate?’
‘I’ll be joining Fletcher at law school. It’s likely to be a tough ride, but with your son to get me through the day, and Joanna the night, I might just about manage it. You must be very proud of him,’ said Jimmy.
‘Magna cum laude and president of the college council,’ said Robert. ‘We sure are,’ he added as he held out his empty glass to a passing waiter.
‘You’re drunk,’ said Ruth, trying not to smile.
‘You’re right as always, my darling, but that won’t stop me being inordinately proud of my only son.’
‘But he would never have become president without Jimmy’s contribution,’ said Ruth firmly.
‘It’s very kind of you to say so, Mrs Davenport, but don’t forget, Fletcher won by a landslide.’
‘But only after you had convinced Tom... whatever his name was, that he should stand down and back Fletcher.’
‘It may have helped, but it was Fletcher who instigated the changes that will affect a generation of Yalies,’ said Jimmy as Annie came over to join them. ‘Hi, kid sister.’
‘When I’m chairman of General Motors, will you still address me in that tiresome manner?’
‘Sure will,’ said Jimmy, ‘and what’s more, I’ll stop driving Caddies.’
Annie was just about to hit him, when the maitre d’ suggested that the time had come to cut the cake.
Ruth put an arm around her daughter-in-law. ‘Take no notice of your brother,’ she said, ‘because once you’ve graduated, he’ll have been put firmly in his place.’
‘It’s not my brother I need to prove anything to,’ said Annie. ‘It’s always been your son who sets the pace.’
‘Then you’ll just have to beat him as well,’ said Ruth.
‘I’m not sure I want to,’ said Annie. ‘You know he’s talking about going into politics once he’s obtained his law degree.’
‘That shouldn’t stop you having your own career.’
‘It won’t, but I’m not too proud to make sacrifices if it will help him to achieve his ambitions.’
‘But you’ve the right to a career of your own,’ said Ruth.
‘Why?’ said Annie. ‘Because it’s suddenly become fashionable? Perhaps I’m not like Joanna,’ she said glancing across at her sister-in-law. ‘I know what I want, Ruth, and I’ll do whatever is necessary to achieve it.’
‘And what’s that?’ asked Ruth quietly.
‘Support the man I love for the rest of my life, bring up his children, delight in his success, and with all the pressures of the seventies, that may prove a lot harder than gaining a magna cum laude from Vassar,’ said Annie as she picked up the silver knife with an ivory handle. ‘You know, I suspect there are going to be far fewer golden wedding anniversaries in the twenty-first century than there have been in the twentieth.’
‘You’re a lucky man, Fletcher,’ said his mother as Annie placed the knife on the bottom layer of the cake.
‘I knew that even before the braces had been removed from her teeth,’ said Fletcher.
Annie passed the knife across to Joanna. ‘Make a wish,’ whispered Jimmy.
‘I already have, freshman,’ she replied, ‘and what’s more, it’s been granted.’
‘Ah, you mean the privilege of being married to me?’
‘Good heavens no, it’s far more significant than that.’
‘What could possibly be more significant than that?’
‘The fact that we’re going to have a baby.’
Jimmy threw his arms around his wife. ‘When did that happen?’
‘I don’t know the exact moment, but I stopped taking the pill once I was convinced you’d graduate.’
‘That’s wonderful. Come on, let’s share the news with our guests.’
‘You say a word, and I’ll plant this knife in you instead of the cake. Mind you, I always knew it was a mistake to marry a freshman with red hair.’
‘I bet the baby has red hair.’
‘Don’t be too sure, freshman, because if you mention it to anyone, I’ll tell them I’m not certain who the father is.’
‘Ladies and gentlemen,’ said Jimmy, as his wife raised the knife, ‘I have an announcement to make.’ The room fell silent. ‘Joanna and I are going to have a baby.’ The silence continued for a moment, before the five hundred guests broke into spontaneous applause.
‘You’re dead, freshman,’ said Joanna, as she plunged the knife into the cake.
‘I knew that the moment I met you, Mrs Gates, but I think we should have at least three children before you finally kill me.’
‘Well, senator, you’re about to become a grandfather,’ said Ruth. ‘My congratulations. I can’t wait to be a grandmother, although I suspect it will be some time before Annie has her first child.’
‘She won’t even consider it until she’s graduated, would be my bet,’ said Harry Gates, ‘especially when they find out what I have planned for Fletcher.’
‘Is it possible that Fletcher might not fall in with your plans?’ suggested Ruth.
‘Not as long as Jimmy and I continue to make him feel that it was always his idea in the first place.’