The Wedding Veil(78)

I was getting ready to say “Thank God I didn’t marry you,” when I noticed an email from Conner.

Conner and I hadn’t spoken since I’d left the islands, but we had had a brief email exchange. He had told me to send him the failed project, that architecture was often about making it work, not starting over, and he wanted to see if he could help. I had stayed up way too late the night before working on it. But, after not seeing it for months, coming back to my plans with fresh eyes gave me an entirely new perspective. I was proud of the changes I’d made, but I wanted another set of eyes on them before I presented them to the true judge and jury: Professor Winchester.

“Hayes, I have to go,” I said.

“Julia!” he protested as I hung up. It was a poetic moment. I was hanging up on my past while opening an email that could define my future.

Jules, this is genius, the email from Conner read. I have a couple small tweaks, but your revisions are amazing. You’ve created something brilliant.

As I opened the new CAD files on my phone, glancing at the graduated living facility layout, I finally felt like I could exhale. Just a few tweaks to the “pod” living areas—mostly to get the nurses’ stations up to Americans with Disability Act standards—and my plans would be ready.

I sat down, leaned my head back, and took a deep breath, trying to calm my racing heart. I was confident now that my plans were fresh and imaginative and, as I had learned we all must do every now and then, also followed the rules.

“Are you okay?” Babs asked, peering at me on the slate front stoop. I hadn’t even heard her open the door.

I had a lot to tell her. She sat down beside me.

“Babs, I quit my program because I thought I was going to fail my final project.”

She squinted at me but said nothing. I recapped my conversation with Conner and showed her my phone with his encouraging comments.

“I was too ashamed to risk failing and having to start over, so I quit instead. The professor made me feel… I don’t know. Like I had chosen the wrong path. That I didn’t have a right to be an architect. It’s stupid, but it really messed me up.”

She smiled at me. “Honey, that isn’t stupid. That’s life. We go to some great lengths to preserve ourselves. But sometimes it backfires and what you thought would help makes it a thousand times worse.”

I nodded. “I know. I had just called my engagement off. And then this happened, and I just couldn’t face it. I went back to Hayes, and I messed up everything.”

Babs whistled. “Did you ever!”

I swatted her arm lightly.

“But it’s time for me to stand on my own two feet now. I know I can. And, really, I have to.” I paused. “No, I want to.” Then I realized I had another piece of news to deliver. “Oh, and Hayes is moving in with Chrissy Matthews.”

Babs had practically no reaction at all, her face as placid as it had been a moment earlier. “That doesn’t surprise me in the least,” she said. “Seems pretty typical Hayes if you ask me.” Before I had a chance to respond, she said, “How do you feel about pork chops for dinner?”

I smirked at her. “Pork chops sound great. They’ll be my last decent meal before I return to a life of ramen and instant oatmeal.”

She made a horrified face. “I’d better pack you up some leftovers then.” She got up and turned back to me. “Jules,” she said, “I never doubted you for a minute. Not one.”

I watched her walk back into the house, feeling a little teary-eyed. Hayes was in the past, and, no matter what Professor Winchester said, architecture was my future. I was going to go inside and celebrate with my grandmother. All was right with the world.

I typed a quick thank-you email to Conner. All I had wanted to do since I last saw him was call him. Well, no, all I had wanted to do was get on an airplane and fly to New York and surprise him at the door of his apartment wearing nothing but a trench coat.

I finished reading his email. I’m so proud of you. I hope you don’t mind me sharing my thoughts. Your work is illuminating, and the world needs to see it. I want to see you more than anything, but I heard you on that boat. You aren’t ready. In the meantime, I’ll be waiting and working and dreaming about a beautiful yoga-doing, building-drawing heroine who makes great jokes about spaceships and has the most beautiful smile I’ve ever seen.

I felt so warm and tingly inside that I couldn’t even muster up anger at Hayes anymore. Hayes was my past, my misspent youth. Conner could be my future. And so I typed back, I hope she ends up with a charming, handsome, and very generous architect who sweeps her off her feet completely. I can’t wait for that day when I run into you on a street corner.

I held the phone to my chest, hugging it as if it were Conner himself. I knew if I called him, he would answer. But maybe he was right. Maybe I should honor what I needed before I jumped into another relationship.

I swiped to refresh my email and saw the perfect response: I can’t wait for that wink.

I floated into the kitchen, where Babs was chopping okra. One look at my face and she laughed. “Oh, my darling girl, are we going to have cause to bring the wedding veil out again?”

I smiled. If we did determine that our veil was the Vanderbilts’, the right thing to do was return it. But that wedding veil hadn’t just brought my family love and luck. It had saved me. If it weren’t for its weighty presence and meaning, I had no doubt I would have married Hayes. I would have been his wife right now while he snuck out with Chrissy Matthews or, when he got bored, with whichever woman was next. What kind of life was that?