overlooking the ocean, and each night I went back to my dinky room with no view and modest amenities because I did not want to be perceived as an “easy” girl. My standards were too high for even this grand gesture to make me give in to the moment. I wanted his respect more than anything else and I wanted to get to know him better, to see if he was real and if we could really be a couple. I was not giving up the coo-coo!
We took long walks, ate delicious lunches and dinners, and spent lots of time talking. He seemed wonderful and terribly romantic and I was learning that his playboy exterior housed a really gentle man. I could feel that he was growing more special to me by the minute; he had always been clear about his intentions. “I want you to be my lady,” he’d said. We were gently reminded that we were in the South, and felt stared at a bit, with my being tall and him shorter, but getting used to that came easy. That time together marked the beginning of something wonderful and significant between us.
I learned later (long after we were married) that Don had gone to Ben to ask his permission to come around and date me. Ben reminded him that he was not my father. Don nodded and acknowledged that he was my employer and he wanted it to be okay for him to come around. He gave Ben an expensive bottle of wine I was told as a gesture of goodwill and gentlemanly behavior. Ben was very impressed with him and ended up being one of two best men at our 1988 wedding. He and Don had tremendous respect for each other’s brilliance. They had a quiet friendship based on that respect and mutual love, never judgment or competition.
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