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coming here for herself, she'd pushed him into coming back so that he could deal with it for himself.
    Kathleen straightened up. "Time to put it behind you. It's over now." She picked up her wine glass. "To us," she said.
    McGarvey wanted to say that the fight was never over; that there would always be some sonofabitch out there with a score to settle, political or religious, or sometimes both, but he raised his glass anyway, and smiled. "To us."
    They touched glasses and drank. Her expression darkened for a moment. "I'm sorry I brought it all back for you."
    "Don't be. Not tonight," McGarvey said. This time his smile was genuine because he'd managed to push the demons back one more time, and because he had his own reason for coming here tonight.
    Her eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?"
    McGarvey opened his menu. "If we're going to make the curtain we'd better order something now."
    "Something's going on, I can see it in your face."
    "I don't know what you're talking about," McGarvey said innocently. Her father had told him once that keeping a secret from his daughter was impossible.
    "You do," she said sternly. She had the / demand look on her face.
    The waiter came and refilled their glasses. "Would you care to order now?"
    "Not yet," Kathleen said sharply. "Give us a few minutes."
    "Of course, madame."
    "What's going on, Kirk?" she asked.
    "This may be the wrong place for this. I was going to wait until after the symphony. I thought we'd go someplace for champagne afterward." He was suddenly enjoying himself, but he kept a straight face.
    "Is this about work?"
    No, It's about us." He took a ring box from his pocket and set it in front of her.
    She smiled uncertainly, almost afraid to touch it.
    "I can't do anything about the past, Katy," he said seriously. "Neither of us can. It's time now to get on with it." He looked at the little velvet box. "It was my mother's." His heart was in his throat.
    She slowly opened the box, and her eyes immediately misted over. She looked up, questioningly, and when he nodded, she took the ring out. It was a small diamond in an inexpensive old-fashioned setting. It was all his father had been able to afford on the salary of an engineer working at Los Alamos on the bomb in the forties. But it had meant everything to his mother, and it meant everything to him now.
    "Let's start over again, Katy. Do it right this time. Will you marry me?"
    A tender look came over her. "I've always loved you, you know. I never stopped," she said. "But I don't think that I ever loved you more than I do right now." She reached again for his hand. "Yes, my darling, I'll marry you, and this time we'll make it work ... together."
    Chevy Chase
    On the way back to Kathleen's home after the concert, they rode very close together like young lovers in the back of the taxi. McGarvey had dismissed his car and bodyguard for the remainder of the evening, and he was glad he had done it. Tonight was personal, anonymous.
    At the house she went up the -walk to open the door as McGarvey paid the cabby, and when he joined her, she'd already started up the stairs.
    "Would you like a glass of wine?" he asked.
    "No," she said. "Just you."
    He locked up, turned off the hall light, and started up the stairs when the telephone rang. Kathleen answered it in the bedroom on the second ring. He could hear her muffled voice, and when he got to the head of the stairs she came
    to the bedroom door, a vexed look on her face.
    "They're sending your car for you."
    "What's happened?"
    "It was Otto. He didn't say, except that it was worse than lavender this time."
    His heart stopped. Rencke never exaggerated. Lavender was his code word for something very bad. Worst-case scenario.
    "I'm sorry, Katy."
    "Kathleen," she corrected automatically. "Be careful."
    He took her in his arms, and kissed her deeply. "I'll call as soon as I can."
    Headlights flashed in the driveway. She shook her head sadly. "You'll never change," she said, and when she saw the look