INTIMATE STRANGERS 23

‘G’day Kerrien, my darling girl, had a nice time?’ She was nodding and smiling encouragingly but Kerrien could say nothing.

‘Lovely day, thank you. It’s good of you to feed me again,’ she added.

“Come on in. Make yourself at home,” she urged.

‘Must use the bathroom, if I may,’ Kerrien asked.

Brett shoved his mother out of the room and Kerrien could hear the whispered voices rising and falling.

‘For heaven’s sake boy, do I get the champagne out or not?'

*I don’t know Mum, she hasn’t given me an answer yet.”

Kerrien listened in growing discomfort. She was beginning to feel coerced, trapped. If she said yes, it was going to be for all the wrong reasons. If she said no, she might just be acting foolishly out of some misplaced sense of romanticism. She went slowly back to the family room, where Brett was waiting for her.

‘Do I get my answer yet?’ he asked. The blue eyes were shuttered and she could read nothing from them.

“Yes Brett, yes I will marry you.’ She wondered why she didn