This morning could be the start for talking things over with them, Diane thought, as she continued to bury her face in her hands.  Maybe it was time she shared something a bit more with her mother.  Diane raised her head, and blew out a breath, smiling her appreciation at her mom for the neck massage.

They both sat back and resumed drinking their coffee.  Diane began to pick on the slice of toast on her bread plate, as her mother pretended to continue reading the paper.

“Tom’s being nice like that because he wants to marry me, mom,” Diane explained quietly, breaking their companionable silence.

Demeter coughed into her coffee, and set aside the slim magazine enclosure of the paper she’d been reading.  Diane noticed that her mother had clipped a bookmark to a section of the magazine, and it had fallen open to that page when she’d put it down hurriedly.

“Hmm… looking at boats?  For dad?” she asked, curiously.  “That one looks pretty slick.  Dad would love that,” she continued as she reached to pick up the magazine.

Demeter exclaimed, “Don’t change the subject Diane!”

Diane pursed her lips, then sighed heavily, “Yes, I’ve been dating him for a while.  And I had thought that, yes, we would eventually get married.”

Her mother frowned slightly, “It seems improper …”

Diane shrugged her shoulders, “These things happen, mom.  We’ve dealt with it with the ethics people and lawyers and everything.  I’d been fine with our dating.  I didn’t work for him directly anyway, and he has no specific role in evaluating me or my remuneration, bonuses or anything, because there’s a management committee for all that.  He’s more of an external face of the fund now, and interacts with the investors, and less with people involved in the day-to-day activities in the fund itself.”

“About the only thing he’s done to intercede in my work has been about this leave that I asked for.  But maybe not even then, because…,” she continued, then, unable to bear the memory of what had led her to leave her life in New York, seemingly on a whim, she bowed her head into her hands again.  She fought to control her tears.

She leaned into the shoulder of her mother as Demeter gently drew her into an embrace, and her own tears began to fall freely as she hugged the frail shoulders of her once-seemingly indestructible daughter.  My poor Diane!  My baby…