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It hadn’t been a far-fetched hope She’d expected Gram to be as pleased with the match as everyone else
But…
"Are you sure he’s the one?" Clara had asked
"Yes, I a with answer, Elizabeth had provided possible concerns herself "Is it because he’s ten years older than I am?"
"I didn’t even realize he was"
"Or because he’s thinking about going into politics?"
"More than thinking," Gram had replied "It sounds like his run for the Senate is a sure thing"
"And that’s bad?"
"Not at all And with his beautiful, brilliant wife at his side, he’s certain to win"
"That’s not why he’sme" Elizabeth’s statement had been eed to be asked You think it is? She’d sensed the question, of course Rolled right over it "Ours may not be the love you and Granddad had What love is? But we’re extre, you know I have my own previous relationships to compare this one to That’s what I have to compare it to, Gram My relationships, not yours and Granddad’s"
"And it’s good?"
"Very good"
"You love him?"
"Of course I do! And Matthew lovesfor him?"
Elizabeth couldn’t carry a tune She knew it Anyone who’d ever heard her knew it It had been years--decades--since she’d inflicted her tonelessness on the world Not since the carefree suirl "You know I can’t sing"
"You always sang for Granddad and randparents You love "
Before the phone call had ended, Gram hadwith faint praise She didn’t dislike Matthew She didn’t believe hiuise She just didn’t think he was the hter And she’d said, so quietly Elizabeth almost hadn’t heard it, that Charles wouldn’t think so, either
Maybe that hat Gram’s reaction to Mattheas really about Granddad The man Gram had loved for sixty-five years had died last Noveive up on life, and she hadn’t And she had the support of her family, her town and, perhaps most importantly, of Winifred and Helen Both had known and loved Clara--and Charles--for more than sixty of those sixty-five years
It had been their ether Sa, and friends for his friendless bride They’d become close friends, all six of them Over time, Helen and Winifred had lost their beloved husbands Now Gram had lost hers Elizabeth had no doubt that Gra out to her as Gram and Granddad had reached out to them when Sam and Richard had died
But Gram had to miss Granddad, deeply and desperately, every day
That was how Elizabeth felt about losing Granddad, too
Elizabeth wished Graiven her so hopeful to look forward to
It worried Elizabethto admit--until this very moment--that it hadn’t
This very moment coincided with her arrival at Matthew’s
The silver Accord parked in his driveas unexpected And familiar Its vanity plate confirmed its owner to be Matthew’s executive assistant, Janine--the saala at the Carlton Club where Matthew and Elizabeth had met
Elizabeth had been ho her parents to the social events of the season Matthew had called her the following day, and by the ti plans for a future
It was during a weekend visit in March that Elizabeth had seen Janine’s Accord She’d arrived at Matthew’s just as Janine, who’d dropped off so She’d also learned from her mother that there’d been a "dreadful" few months when Matthew’s parents had lived in "perpetual fear" that Matthew ht marry Janine Like Elizabeth, Mattheas an only child--and sole heir to a substantial fortune
Matthew had told Elizabeth that ruerated She’d been a lover That was all He’d said it dismissively, as if the assistant who drove the Accord wasn’t "wife material" When Elizabeth called hiht away
Elizabeth hadn’t known Janine would be traveling with Matthew to New York They must have rendezvoused early Tuesday at his hoe, and shared a limo to SFO
Must have, she reiterated silently as she parked the car
So why hadn’t she grabbed an invitation before heading toward theaway from that door toward the master-bedroom side of Matthew’s house?
Matthew never pulled the bedroohbors’ s faced the other way, and it would take a slender voyeur indeed to traverse the narrow path And a tall one to peer inside