Daddy's Girls (74)

The cast didn’t even seem to object to their close relationship, because they were so enjoyable to be around, and Rufus remained attentive to the entire cast. Their love for each other spread good feelings wherever they were.

    When they got to London, she stayed at the apartment the production company had provided for her, and he stayed at his London pied-à-terre, and took her to see his “crumbling drafty” manor, as he called it, and she loved it, although she could see why his kids objected to it. It was in need of some serious attention, a lot of paint, and more heat. It was damp and cold and dreary.

They had dinners at Harry’s Bar and danced at Annabel’s when they weren’t working, and on Valentine’s Day he sent her three dozen red roses. He was totally besotted with her.

When Caroline came to London with Morgan and Billy, Gemma took them everywhere. She asked Rufus for two days off and he shot around her. She took them to the Tower of London, and the queen’s stables, and Madame Tussauds, and all the corny tourist attractions they were dying to see and she wanted to see with them. And he let them come on the set to watch her filming when she came back to work. Caroline was struck again by how talented her sister was. She was a brilliant actress, and she thought Rufus was wonderful, and a great director. They were an extraordinary team.

When Caroline left, they had a Sunday off, and spent it together, walking in the park, they had tea at Claridge’s, and went back to her apartment when it started to snow. They were going to L.A. in two weeks, and they were going to see Caroline again with Peter and the children, and Kate and Thad, and Scarlett and Roberto. Having met Caroline, and seeing how sweet and easygoing she was, Rufus was no longer nervous about the others.

    “I’m the family bitch,” Gemma said. “You don’t need to worry about them.” But she wasn’t a bitch with him. Far from it, and she had never been happier in her life. She loved the show, and she loved him. She just wanted to be sure it wasn’t an on-set romance that would be over in five minutes. She wanted this to be real and it appeared to be. When Caroline left London, they had known each other for more than two months and so far it seemed solid.

They talked about it that night with the snow falling. There were so many things they wanted to do together when they had time. He was forty-nine years old, and she was forty-two now. Even their ages seemed perfect.

Rufus looked at her then, and knew what he wanted was right. He smiled and said in a soft voice, “I’m not leaving. I want you so badly I can’t stand it. I love you, make love with me,” he said so enticingly that she smiled a Mata Hari smile and led him to her bed. He peeled her clothes away instantly, and she took off his, and they fell into bed like starving people, but for the first time in her life, she had waited, she was sure, and she knew that they loved each other. It wasn’t a wild, crazy fling or a one-night stand with a guy who meant nothing to her. She had had too many of those. And afterward, they were both glad they’d waited, and did it again, and again, and lay in each other’s arms until morning, savoring every minute of their first night together.

“Gemma, you have turned my whole life upside down,” he said in an awestruck voice, unable to believe what had happened. He had wondered if it would all stop in Africa, or when they got back. But it hadn’t. Their love for each other and attraction had just gotten stronger when they got home.



* * *



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    Rufus and Gemma flew from London to L.A. together in March. He went to his meetings, and Gemma went to see Jerry and thanked him again for getting her the part. Her house was gone so they stayed at the Peninsula for two nights, and then drove to the ranch in the car Rufus had rented. It was a big American SUV, which he loved.

Caroline and Peter were meeting them at the ranch with the children, and Kate was excited to see them. The sisters hadn’t all been together since Thanksgiving, it had been four months. And they were all getting together again in May, for the memorial for their father on the one-year anniversary. It seemed like an enormous number of things had happened in the ten months their father had been gone. But the ranch was running smoothly, and Thad’s new ideas were working out well. He was handling the whole breeding operation now, and they were both involved in the auctions.

When Rufus saw the ranch, he fell in love with it. He spent hours riding with Thad to get a feel for the size of the property. And Gemma rode with him for part of it. He got on well with Peter too, so the sisters left him to look at the livestock with the men, and the breeding operation.

The girls had a glass of wine at Gemma’s house, where she and Rufus were staying, and Caroline looked at them both sheepishly.

“I have something to tell you. I feel stupid saying it.”

“He’s not cheating on you again?” Gemma almost leapt out of her seat as she said it, and Caroline shook her head.

“I went off birth control when Peter left. I figured I didn’t need it, and took a break. He spent New Year’s Eve with me, when we got back together. I didn’t even think about it….I’m two months pregnant. I’m going to be forty when I have this baby…and ninety when it goes to college.”

    “Oh my God.” Gemma laughed at her. “You’re a geriatric mother! That’s what they call it when you’re over forty.”

“Oh shut up, you will be too, if you and Rufus decide to have a child. You’re older than I am!”