"Go ahead. Tell her I said hi." Carolyn let go of her lover, patting her bottom as she left. Annelie raised a sardonic eyebrow at the gesture but had a humorous twinkle in her eyes.
Carolyn followed Annelie's suggestion and then climbed into bed, her body feeling heavy and lethargic. She turned on some soft music, pulled the covers up over her naked body, and settled against the pillows, letting the music surround her.
They had left D.C. after breakfast and one last visit with Beth in the hospital. Carolyn agreed to leave only when she was satisfied her sister was better. Explaining to Beth and Joe she was staying with Annelie during the filming, she'd given them the number to her own line, begging them to keep her posted.
Beth had cried when they said goodbye but lit up when Annelie promised her and Joe a tour of the studio. Carolyn smiled to herself at the look on her sister's face when Annelie had offered to be their personal guide.
"This looks cozy." The cool alto voice made Carolyn's heart jump.
"Come to bed," she suggested, flipping back the covers. "I know it's only late afternoon, but we're exhausted. You did most of the driving."
"Good idea. I'll be right back."
Annelie soon returned smelling of her special grapefruit bath gel, her long hair slightly damp.
"I'm too tired to make love," Carolyn confessed, "but I'd love for you to join me."
"Dressed like this?" Annelie interrupted, letting her short terry-cloth robe fall to the floor.
Standing there as naked as Eve before the fall, Annelie made Carolyn's throat constrict. Gently she cleared her throat. "Oh, my."
Annelie walked over to the bed, crawled under the covers, and pulled Carolyn into her arms. Soft skin against soft skin made Carolyn lose her breath. Too exhausted to think about sex, she let her hands slide slowly along Annelie's body; merely feeling her was enough.
"I know, in a relationship, you don't always have to thank each other," Carolyn murmured. "This isn't one of those times. You've done so much for me, love. And I don't take any of it for granted."
Annelie pressed a soft kiss on her forehead. "I know."
"Is Jem coming?"
"Yes. She's flying in Wednesday morning."
"Good. Will you meet her?"
"I can't. I'm in meetings all day. I'll send a car for her."
Resting on Annelie's shoulder, Carolyn closed her eyes. As she pulled the pillow under her cheek to not weigh her lover down, she sighed contentedly. "This is heaven."
"Mmm."
Annelie's soft curves pressed into Carolyn as she pulled her closer, wrapping a slender leg around her. "Is this okay?"
"More than okay. It's perfect."
***
Margo looked up from her desk in the heart of the office. "Annelie! Good, you're back. Did all the work you took care of from home yesterday pay off? When I talked to Carolyn earlier, she said you were up past midnight to fine-tune your presentation. How did the meeting go?"
"Excellent." Annelie beamed. "We really made progress, Margo. It looks like we have the go-ahead for those shelters. What did Carolyn want?"
"Just to say hello, I think. She'll call back later."
"Okay. Everything all right here?" Annelie gestured toward the other offices.
"Running smoothly now we can focus on the important things. Oh, speaking of that, there's a package for you. From California."
Annelie had started walking toward her office and now stopped abruptly, her heart speeding up. "California?"
"Yes, from the investigator."
"I thought I'd received all the documents regarding my father and Trevor White. I'd rather not read anything more about that imposter." Annelie scowled.
"I know, but here they are anyway, girlie." Margo handed over a thick parcel. "Seems like an awful lot, just to be documents."
"I'll take a look at this in my office. Hold my calls for now, unless it's personal."
"Will do."
Annelie tossed the package down on her empty desk, then placed her hand on it as if trying to gauge its contents. Suddenly filled with anxiety, she felt her mouth grow stale. She took a deep breath before sliding a letter opener along the edge of the package, opening it carefully, and glancing inside.
She didn't find legal documents or anything resembling what the investigator had previously sent her. Instead, Annelie pulled out two large stacks of small, tattered envelopes.
Breathing hard, she saw her father's name on them and, turning one over, she recognized her mother's name as the sender. They were dated between March 1978 and December 1981.
When she investigated the large package more carefully, she pulled out a single piece of paper, which she skimmed, hoping for a clarification. The package was indeed from the investigator, who explained how the police had discovered the letters among Trevor White's belongings.
With trembling hands, Annelie untied the string and opened the first letter, written only a week after her father left.
Dear Stuart,
First of all, I hope your trip down south went well and you are feeling better. You were so upset when you left and I am grateful Annie was not home to witness it. She adores you and to see her father in your present frame of mind would have been too much for a child like her.
Writing you at a post office box is worrying. How will I be able to get a hold of you in case something happens
to either me or Annie? Is there a phone number I can ring? Please let me know.
Annie asks for you every day when she comes home from school. It is difficult to tell her I am not sure when you will be coming home.
Please write soon, Stuart. We miss you and I am certain we can make it work if you would only give me, and Annie, another chance.
Your loving wife,
Anna
The hopeful tone in Anna's first letter diminished in every letter Annelie read. She had written her husband for more than three years— at first, every week, and then every month. Heartbreaking sentences of how Annelie stopped asking for her father after a while, and how lonely Anna felt while waiting for her husband to contact her. In the last six letters, her tone became resigned and resentful. When he had missed three birthdays and four Christmases, Anna wrote the last letter on New Year's Eve, 1981.
Stuart,
Annie is ten years old. Her three last birthdays have gone by unnoticed from your end. No gifts, and no Christmas presents…not even a card. If you had seen her sitting by the phone, all dressed up, and ignoring the friends I invited to her party, just waiting, afraid she would miss your call…which of course never came.
You make me so angry and I have to be honest—I hate you for what you have done to her. I don't care what you have done to me; I'm a grown woman who can take care of myself. But the child...
Here the letter was unreadable, perhaps from her mother's tears.
...will not write anymore. You have been an invisible member of this family for three years now, but no more. We do not expect to hear from you. If you choose to return to Chicago, know this; you are not welcome here.
Anna
Annelie leaned back in her chair, her eyes full of tears and her stomach a tight knot. Anna had hated her father in the end. Who could blame her? How I wished and hoped he'd return. Every day, for the first year, I expected him to call. When he didn't, when Mom finally stopped reassuring me, I still clung to the hope he would come. If not that day, then next birthday, next Christmas…
Annelie remembered hoping he'd return and mend their little family. I don't know why I was so hopeful for so long. He showed me hardly any interest the first seven years of my life. Mom gave me unconditional love, but thinking back, I realize he merely tolerated me at best. And even Mom finally reached her breaking point. Reading the letters had let her see her mother's more human side, which was a relief.