Legend

The announcement

Paris was cold and drizzly, but I got to see the Tower and survey the city. We had a bracing lunch at one of the restaurants, then Damian took me to his real purpose for visiting: lingerie. It's good that he's a rich man, is all I've got to say, and I was grateful we weren't flying commercial because of the extra baggage fee we'd have incurred. Then a brief flight to England, where we spent the night in a hotel and turned up on my grandma's doorstep in the morning. She was surprised to see me, but thrilled at my news and gave Damian a more thorough grilling than he'd gotten from any of my other relatives. The interesting thing was that he didn't exert himself to charm; his charm is practically a lethal weapon when he turns it on, and I appreciated that he was letting Grandma meet his real self. Finally she pronounced that I had found a good man and we had a late lunch, showing her the pictures the photographer had taken the day after our engagement.

"I wanted to say that I'll take care of your travel to New York any time you'd like to visit," Damian said, patting his mouth with the napkin. "Any time. You'll probably want to come over when Alex goes dress shopping, and for the wedding itself, or just to visit. We have a corporate jet that can fly you, or if that's not available, we can get you first class on a commercial flight."

"You don't have to do that," Grandma said, flustered.

"I do," he said, and finally the charm offensive came out with his smile. "You're important to Alex, which means you're important to me. You'll be my grandmother-in-law, which means that I get to arrange these things."

"No, I'll be your grandma too," she said, patting his hand.

He teared up a bit and unselfconsciously patted his eyes with the napkin. "I've never had a grandma. This is going to be awesome."

After lunch, I gave her some souvenirs that I'd picked up. We had to go, but I'd be seeing her soon. She and Damian exchanged telephone numbers, and finally we were going home. We mostly slept on the way home and were met by Alfred and the Rolls. I was glad to see him after the trip, and he got us home with a minimum of fuss although there was a slightly raised eyebrow at our expanded baggage.

We were home just in time for a pre-dinner cocktail. We distributed some souvenirs, and I think that Bruce and Alfred were both pleased to have been remembered. Then, as everybody settled in, Damian grinned at his dad, succinctly recapped the business part of the trip, and concluded nonchalantly, "And Alex agreed to marry me."

Bruce choked on his cocktail and Alfred actually dropped the shaker. I bounced up and showed them my ring.

"My word," Alfred murmured. "Congratulations, Master Damian, and best wishes to you, Miss Alex."

Bruce gave me a big hug, complete with a little rocking. It was a little unnerving; he's pretty hands-off normally. "Welcome to the family, Alex," he muttered, then pulled Damian into a three-way hug. Then Damian pulled in Alfred, and it was a great moment. Then we heard the door.

"Wow, is there a tragedy here or something?" Dick's voice was concerned. We disentangled, but then Damian put his arms around me and cuddled me to him.

"For Alex, maybe," I snorted "but no. Alex and I just announced our engagement."

"Congratulations!" Barbara bounded over to me and forced Damian to relinquish me for a hug and an inspection of the ring. "Oh, that's gorgeous, Alex! But kind of a small diamond, Damian."

"I was pushing it with a half-caret, Babs. So I went with quality over quantity. Finest cut, D color, flawless at 10x magnification."

"Any bigger would be embarrassing," I said, looking at it with pleasure. "As it is, it's not going to fit under my gloves at work, it'll just punch through the nitrile. I'll have to get a chain to wear it on."