The Wedding Veil(88)

“Edith?”

“Yes?”

“I’ve tried so hard to make her happy. I need you to know that.”

Edith smiled sadly at him. “I know, Jack. So have I. But I think we both know that happiness is something we have to find for ourselves.” She took a deep breath. “If we love her, Jack, I think we have to let her go.”

“I do love her,” Jack whispered.

Edith took her son-in-law’s hand. And she wondered how she could have had a daughter with dreams so big that even the whole of Biltmore Estate couldn’t hold them.





JULIA Love and Luck





I studied myself in the mirror again. Black pants, white blouse, leopard flats, thin leather belt around my waist. Straight hair. No jewelry except the small clover studs that Babs had left on her dresser, pinned to a postcard that said, These have always brought me luck. And the beautiful thing is, you don’t even need it, my brilliant girl.

I touched the earrings for courage and studied myself again. I wanted to look professional and grown up. No fuss, no frills. I thought I had pulled it off. Or maybe I looked like a restaurant hostess. I wasn’t sure. Maybe that was better, though. I was about to stand off with my toughest adversary, something I’d had to do quite a few times during my college years with entitled customers demanding a table.

Sarah popped her head in. It was only seven in the morning, but she was already up, showered, dressed, and ready.

“I thought you didn’t have to be at work until nine,” I said.

“I don’t. But I’m going with you.”

I laughed. “You are my best friend in the world, but you can’t go with me.”

She nodded. “I know I can’t go in with you, but I’m going to wait outside. Then if you get nervous, you’ll know I’m right there.” She paused. “And if you change your mind and have to make a run for it, I’ll be ready with the getaway car.”

I wanted to protest. She was already working such long hours at her new law firm. I didn’t want to add anything to her very full plate. But the thought of my best friend being right outside was too wonderful to turn down. And, well, it wouldn’t be the first time in recent history I’d needed a quick getaway.

“How do I look?”

She studied me. “Like you’re applying for a job at Outback.”

“Perfect.”

I grabbed my portfolio. I had printed out my plans complete with most of Conner’s suggestions—but not all of them. It was still my project, after all.

Sarah dropped me off at the front door, and I took a deep breath as I walked up the steps into the imposing brick building of NC State’s architecture school. Sun streamed through the glass panes in the ceiling, giving me a brief flashback to the moment at Biltmore, inside the conservatory, before my entire life had changed. But I steeled myself. My life was going to change again. This time for the better.

My flats tapped rhythmically as I walked down the hall, trying to avoid the fact that all that stood between me and my reentry to school was this meeting and Professor Winchester’s approval. The door opened and there she was in her black pencil dress and spiky black heels, her black hair pulled into a severe bun. The precision of her took my breath away. She looked like one of the straight lines she loved so much. Suddenly, everything about me seemed wrong.

“Welcome back, Ms. Baxter,” she said, gesturing for me to come in. I walked past her, gathering all my nerve, and slowly began taking my drawings out, one by one, and pinning them to the corkboard wall, which was completely empty.

When I finished, I turned to her.

“Might I ask you a question?” she asked, studying the board, her arms crossed.

“Anything.”

“These drawings look familiar—you knew that I was going to fail this project before. Why not start over with something new? Why not play it a little safer? Why design an entire community when just a building would do?”

I could feel myself shrinking under her gaze, remembering that horrible day when I felt like my entire future had vanished right in front of me. “Well…” I hated how small my voice sounded. My heart was pounding, and suddenly, I felt like I had made the wrong choice. Why hadn’t I undertaken something smaller? Something that didn’t push the envelope quite so much?

“I’m just wondering why you would embark on something of this magnitude for your final project,” Professor Winchester continued. “Why not stick to what you know?”

I would have said I didn’t know the answer until I heard it come out of my mouth. “You taught me that in architecture we always have to push the envelope, to extend our boundaries, to test the limits. Affordable senior living is one of the most pressing issues facing our country today, and I think I can help solve some of its problems. I can’t draw a community and plan a life around the ways we’ve always lived because that hasn’t always worked. Plus, we can’t know what the future holds.”

I had proven that handily this year. I had ditched my career, abandoned my fiancé. My entire future that I had planned so seamlessly had fallen apart, burst at the seams. I had to build something new. I was determined. I might be blowing my shot at a second chance here, but I had told the truth. I had pursued my passion, and I was honoring what I wanted. The more I did it, the better I was becoming at it.