He picked up his wineglass and swirled the crimson liquid before taking a long swallow and picturing Cassandra sitting in the chair opposite him, the way she used to after they’d put Valentina to bed. They would talk about their day, catching each other up in the quiet of the evening hours. Ever since she’d left, he drank a glass of wine alone every night before he went to bed. And every night he fantasized that she was again sitting across from him, her eyes shining with happiness and her smile reserved for him.
After finishing tonight’s wine and checking on Valentina, Julian retired to his room. He felt the pull of Cassandra’s diary as soon as he walked in, and he picked it up, carrying it with him to the wing chair.
We’re having a small wedding. Just a few close friends of Julian’s, and his father, of course. I’ve lost contact with most of my friends from work, but Marion and I are still in touch, and she’ll be my maid of honor. I’m nervous about meeting Julian’s dad. He’s some sort of famous doctor who’s written a lot of books. Apparently, the name Grant Hunter is very well known in medical circles. He used to teach at Harvard, but now he lives in Arizona because the climate is good for his arthritis. I’m afraid that he’ll think me too uneducated for his son. I went to work right out of high school. I always thought that one day I’d go back to school, work toward a degree in fashion, maybe. But it never happened. And now I’m twenty-seven, divorced, and about to marry the one person in the world who seems to really get me. I just hope I make a good impression on his father. Julian tells me I don’t need to worry, that he loves me and nothing will change that. But I’ve heard the way his voice changes when he’s on the phone with his father. He gets a strained, polite tone, and he clutches the phone tightly in his hand. He’s uptight for hours after those phone calls, and it’s only after a few glasses of wine and soothing on my part that his good humor is restored.
Julian shut the journal and leaned back, closing his eyes. He’d read these words before, but they still gave him a shock. He understood now that Cassandra had seen so much more than she let on. He hadn’t realized that she could tell how much his father upset him. His father was a hard man, remote and unemotional, and Julian never felt that he could live up to his exacting standards. Even Julian’s acceptance to Stanford had been met with “I suppose if you’re more interested in a laid-back environment, then choose Palo Alto over Cambridge.” Whether his father had minded that Julian hadn’t chosen his own alma mater or truly felt that Harvard was superior, Julian had no idea. He just wanted to get as far away from Boston as he could. The only reason he’d come back and done his residency at Mass General was because by then his father had moved to Arizona.
Cassandra had been right to worry about how Julian’s father would receive her. He hadn’t even tried to hide his disapproval of his son’s bride, and it had greatly upset her. It had taken everything in Julian’s power to calm her down and convince her that Grant’s opinion didn’t matter to him. In the end, ironically enough, Grant had come to love her, especially after she’d given him a granddaughter.
??9??
Addison
The sound of water running in the shower wakes me, and I turn over groggily to look at the clock on the night table in Gabriel’s bedroom. Six a.m. Why is he up so early on a Saturday morning? The gallery doesn’t open until eleven, and he normally sleeps in on the weekend. I hear the water stop, and a minute later Gabriel walks out of the bathroom, a towel around his waist. A few beads of water still glisten on his chest as he moves toward the bed and leans over to kiss me. I reach up and run my hands along his torso and around his neck, pulling him onto the bed with a laugh.
“What are you doing out of bed so early?” I say, nuzzling his ear.
“Couldn’t sleep,” he says, and gives me a long kiss on the lips. He slides an arm around my waist and presses his body to mine. “On second thought, I think I’ll come back to bed.”
As we make love, I relish the feel of his body—tall, strong, and athletic—against mine, feeling safe and protected in his arms. When we finish, we stay in bed, tangled up together, and he drifts off to sleep. In this moment I feel peaceful and connected, something I couldn’t have conceived of six months ago. Gabriel changed everything the day he walked into Exposed, the photography store where I work. There was something appealing about the way he casually strolled around, looking at camera equipment, or maybe it was his warm and generous smile when he came up to the counter.