Trust Me

must have been more than three, dear.”
    Desdemona chuckled. “Maybe so. But if Stark seems different than the others, it’s probably because I managed to find him all by myself, without any assistance from Juliet and Bess.”
    “You know they were only trying to help.”
    Desdemona put her arm around her mother’s shoulders and hugged her briefly. “Don’t sweat it, Mom. Everything’s going to be all right. I know what I’m doing.”
    “Are you sure? Tony doesn’t think he’s right for you,” Celia said.
    “You know how big brothers are. Tony doesn’t think any man is good enough for me.”
    “Juliet and Bess happen to agree with him in this instance. Even Henry has a few doubts. They’re worried that Stark isn’t really your type. They think he’s cold.”
    “Now that’s just where they’re wrong. Trust me, Stark is anything but cold.” Desdemona picked up a stack of stainless steel bowls and carried them toward the sink. “He just isn’t quite as demonstrative or as flamboyant as everyone else in the family. Don’t forget, he lacks formal stage training.”
    “But Kirsten says he doesn’t show his emotions at all.”
    “That’s not true. He shows plenty of emotion. He’s just very subtle about it.” Desdemona set the bowls down with a clatter.
    “Why have all those other women he’s tried to marry left him standing at the altar?” Celia demanded. “There must be a reason, dear.”
    “There was.” Desdemona reached up to take a cookbook down from a high shelf. “They didn’t understand him. They chickened out when he asked them to sign a prenuptial agreement.”
    “ A prenuptial agreement.” Celia was aghast. “How awful. How unchivalrous. How dreadful. No wonder they backed out. They realized that he didn’t love them.”
    “Mom…”
    Celia was suddenly suspicious. “Has he asked you to sign one?”
    “Not yet.” Desdemona opened the cookbook. “I think he’s a little nervous because of his previous experiences. This time around he’ll probably wait until the very last minute.”
    “Why?”
    “Because he’ll tell himself that he has to be more crafty this time. He’s already screwed up with two previous fiancees, remember. I expect that he’ll spring the prenuptial agreement on me just as I’m ready to walk down the aisle. That way I won’t have time to bolt. Or so he’ll think.”
    Celia looked stricken. “Desdemona, you can’t be serious about this. Why on earth would you marry someone so cold-blooded?”
    “Because he’s not cold-blooded at all,” Desdemona said patiently.
    “But you’ve just said that he’ll want you to sign a prenuptial agreement.”
    “Yes, but he won’t mean it, if you see what I mean.”
    Celia stared at her. “How on earth do you know that? Darling, I can’t let you make the same kind of mistake I made with George Northstreet. Please, listen to me.”
    “Relax, Mom. Whatever else he is, I guarantee you that Stark is no George Northstreet waiting to go crazy.”
    “Tony says he’s a computer inside a human body.”
    “Stark is no android. Look at the evidence.”
    “What evidence?” Celia demanded.
    “Well, for starters, Stark took in two stepbrothers he’d never even met because he understood what their parents’ divorce was doing to them.”
    “Yes, I know. Bess told me the whole tale. I admit that it was very kind of him to take Jason and Kyle for the summer.”
    “Stark wasn’t being kind. That’s the whole point,” Desdemona said. “Stark doesn’t think in those terms. He wasn’t being consciously charitable. He just did it because it seemed like the right thing to do. That’s the way he does things.”
    Celia looked thoughtful. “He took them in because Jason and Kyle were family, didn’t he?”
    “I don’t think he analyzed it in those terms, either. He doesn’t have a lot of experience interacting with relatives. Intellectually speaking, he’s a little suspicious of family ties. He thinks family members are not above using and manipulating each other.”
    “Then why did he take Jason and Kyle?”
    Desdemona grinned triumphantly. “Because his instincts are sound.”
    “You’re going to marry him just because you think his instincts are good? What if you’re wrong?”
    Desdemona looked up from a recipe for olive- and cheese-topped focaccia. “Take it easy, Mom. Everything’s under control here.”
    “Desdemona, I want you to be absolutely honest with me. Do you think Stark really