An Unforgettable Lady(61)

But that kind of spur-of-the-moment decision-making was at the root of her problems with Ranulf. He'd asked her to marry him and she'd agreed, pushing aside her doubts. If she'd taken some time to think about the situation, she might have followed the inner voice that was telling her they were ill-matched.

This time, she would make her decision carefully. In spite of how much she wanted to be with John.

From now on, she was going to choose her way more deliberately.



* * *



At the end of the workday, Grace looked at the stack of papers on the desk and felt as if she was staring up at a mountain. The pile had grown in spite of all the things she'd delegated, thrown out, or asked Kat to file. She was tired and distracted and the last thing she wanted to do was go to the Plaza for the birthday party Bo was throwing her.

"I can't do it," she muttered.

Smith looked up from the conference table.

"I can't go out tonight," she said more loudly. "I'm sorry."

He shrugged. "Why are you apologizing to me? We weren't going on a date."

His pragmatic words stung but he was right. They weren't going out together as a couple. They were just two people going to the same place.

And she thought she might be able to make love with him and not get more emotionally involved?

All day long, her answer to his proposal had been solidly in yes territory. Yes and now. But maybe she was deluding herself.

Grace picked up the phone, dialed the Plaza, and asked for Senator Barbara Ann Bradford. As soon as Bo picked up, she said, "I'm so sorry, something has—"

Bo laughed and her smooth Southern drawl brooked no argument. "Don't even try that with me. I'm in town for forty-eight hours for your thirtieth birthday party. You will be coming for dinner, you will have a good time, and we will give you a royal razzing about getting older."

"I'm just exhausted."

"Everyone who's coming tonight is a friend. The real kind. If you end up falling asleep during dinner, we'll prop you up on a sofa. You'll be as elegant as ever, just a little more quiet."



"Maybe we should just meet tomorrow for—"

Bo's voice grew gentle. "Woody, you need us right now. That's why I sent you the gift."

Grace struggled to turn her father's chair around so it faced the view, wishing she were by herself. She didn't want to cry in front of Smith arid tears were milling.

"Oh, Bo, I don't know what to say."

The gift was a relic of their girlhood together, a short length of braided hair, blond and auburn intertwined. They had woven it at the age of twelve when they'd been at summer camp and had cut each other's hair.

As soon as Grace had seen the lock in the porcelain box, she'd remembered exactly where they'd been sitting as they'd put a pair of scissors to work. It had been on a dock, on the shores of Lake Sagamore. The sun had been low in a very blue sky and the breeze mild. It had been toward the end of summer, she recalled, and the warmth in the air had been welcomed because their swimsuits had been damp. She could still hear the sound of the water clapping through the crib underneath their towels.

With great chops and slices, they had transformed themselves on the outside, eager to get closer to their grown-up selves. As locks of hair had fallen onto the bleached wood of the dock, they were convinced that with shorter hair they would look older. They would be further along on the path to their great destinies.

With shorter hair, things would somehow be easier.

When they were finished, they had taken some of the strands and made the two braids, one for each of them. They had brushed off the rest of the hair into the water where it lingered on the surface like a spider's web and then floated away. They'd laughed at how funny it felt to be free of the weight that had once lain on their shoulders.

Somewhere along the way to adulthood, Grace had misplaced her braid and the ache she felt from the loss would have astonished her younger self. Having grown up, having reached that maturity she'd yearned for, it was a surprise to find herself wanting to return to that simpler life, to that moment at the edge of the lake with her friend. To that summer day that she'd believed was going to last forever.

"Bo, how did you know how much it would mean to me?"

"Because I was with you then and I'm with you now. Someday, when I'm hurting, you can send it back to me." Grace felt tears prick the corners of her eyes as Bo laughed. "Think of it as emotional fruitcake. We'll just keep mailing it back and forth to each other."