Brass Ring (54 page)

Claire looked across the circle of her friends to try to catch Jon’s eye. He was already looking at her, though, looking and smiling, and he nodded in the direction of the elevators.

She returned the nod and stood up, and they made their way through the crowded room, saying good-night to the people they passed, wishing them pleasant dreams.

Mary Drake stopped them at the elevator, grabbing Claire’s hand. “I admire you two so much,” she said. “Your workshop yesterday was the best you’ve ever done.”

“We enjoyed yours, too,” Jon said.

“Come on,” Mary chided him. “You know what I mean. Before, when you two talked, you were great and an inspiration and all, but everyone always thought, well Jon and Claire can make it work because they don’t have any problems.”

Claire laughed and rested her hand on Jon’s shoulder.

Mary shook her head. “I have to admit you shook me up a little when you started speaking so candidly about what this year’s been like for you. But it was terrific. You gave everyone a different perspective and a different kind of hope.”

“Thanks, Mary,” Claire said sincerely. They’d been hearing much the same message from other attendees since their workshop the day before. The truth was, she and Jon knew no other way to handle their presentation than with absolute honesty.

They took the elevator to the top floor. They were in the same spacious turret room they’d had the year before. The queen-sized bed was cradled in the circle of windows. All the shades were raised, and the sky outside was black, the falling snow barely visible.

Jon wheeled into the bathroom while Claire tried to reach Vanessa one more time on the phone. Vanessa was to have arrived in D.C. earlier that day, with Brian and two-month-old Catherine in tow. Claire had called her sister’s hotel a half-dozen times, but apparently the weather had caused some delays at the airport. This time, though, the hotel staff put her call through to Vanessa’s room, and her sister answered almost immediately.

“We’re still in Harpers Ferry, Van,” Claire said. “I’m sorry. I’m not sure I’ll be able to make it back in time for the meeting tomorrow.”

“Don’t worry,” Vanessa said. “There was a message for me here at the hotel saying the meeting’s been postponed till Wednesday. The weather’s horrendous. Nobody’s going to make it in tomorrow.”

They’d set up this meeting over a month ago with Senator Christine Warrick, the feisty new sponsor of a revamped Aid to Adult Survivors Bill. With a little luck, the bill would make it through this year. It had lost its chance the year before. Zed Patterson’s grim-faced admission of “a problem” and his subsequent entry into a treatment program for pedophiles had ironically stolen the focus of attention from the bill he’d sponsored. But the three wary women and two frightened children who came forward with their own stories of abuse at Patterson’s hands left Claire and Vanessa no doubt at all that they had done the right thing. Jon had promised Vanessa that the foundation would keep her AMC program afloat until a more appropriate source of funding came through.

She and Vanessa spoke on the phone awhile longer, mainly about Catherine, who was proving to be a good-natured traveler in the face of adversity.

“I can’t wait to see her,” Claire said.

“She looks like you, Claire.”

“Like me?”

“Yes. Honestly, she does. I thought maybe I was imagining it, but Brian noticed it too. It’s great. I feel like I’ve got you with me all the time.”

Claire smiled to herself. “You do, you know.”

“Yeah,” Vanessa said, “I know.”

Jon was already in bed by the time she got off the phone. She told him about Vanessa’s side of the conversation while she put away her clothes. Jon listened, his back propped up against the pillows, and Claire saw the smiling impatience in his eyes as she folded her sweater and hung up her skirt.

“Come to bed, Claire,” he said.

She closed the closet door, then walked over to her side of the bed and turned off the lamp on the night table. The room was plunged into darkness, and as she stood between the bed and the curved wall of windows, she felt her eyes drawn outside. With the light off in the room, she could see the steady fall of snow, thick and gray above the icy rivers. And she could see, far in the distance, the haze-covered lights of the bridge over the Shenandoah. For a moment, she was caught in a trance. She was not in the room at all, but out there on that bridge, shivering against the cold and snow, suspended high above the river.

“I’m waiting for you, Harte.” Jon’s voice came softly through the darkness, and she drew in a breath and slowly turned away from the windows, away from the distant string of lights. And as she slipped into bed next to her husband, she offered a silent prayer of thanks to Margot St. Pierre.

One of the greatest pleasures in writing a novel is the opportunity to talk with people who know things I don’t and who are more than willing to help me create my fictional world. For their information and advice, I am indebted to Darlene Atkins, Rita Hagler, Sharon Lieblich, Maureen Lynch, Ken McLaughlin, Dottie and Bill Perry, and Katherine Young.

I’m also grateful to Joann Churchill, Elizabeth Hain, David Heagy, Mary Kirk, Peter Porosky, Suzanne Schmidt, and Laura Schmitz for reading various drafts of Brass Ring along the road to completion.

And for their enthusiasm, trust, and candor, I owe special thanks to B.J. Campbell and Bruce Scott.

All of my in-print books are available as both print books and e-books and I’m gradually making my backlist available as well. You can keep up with availability on my website, where I maintain a printable booklist on the “Books” page. Visit me at:

www.dianechamberlain.com

www.dianechamberlain.com/blog

In Print Titles

(also available as e-books)

The Shadow Wife (originally published as Cypress Point)

The Lies We Told

Secrets She Left Behind

Before the Storm

The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes

The Bay at Midnight

The Courage Tree

Summer’s Child

Breaking the Silence

Keeper of the Light

Kiss River

Her Mother’s Shadow

Backlist Titles

Secret Lives

The Escape Artist

Reflection

Brass Ring

Fire and Rain

Private Relations

Lovers and Strangers