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I respected, there was something missing. With you," his eyes locked on hers, "I know there is
more and I want it all. I know you're looking at this as a fling, but I don't want you only in my
bed. I want you in my life, too. I want to wake up in the morning and see your face. I want to
come home at noontime just because I'm impatient to see you and I know you're here. I want you
to trust me. And I want to earn that trust."
He threw his hands up and rolled his eyes before she could speak. "I know, I know. This
coming from a man who last night reminded you he wasn't a good bet for a relationship. But I've
really thought about this. Hell, I've been thinking about you nonstop for weeks now."
Believing in him and seeing a future with him was enticing. But Callie tried to remind
herself that considering him as a casual lover was still the smart thing to do. They had talked a
little about feelings and had a wonderful night together, but it was way too early to predict how a
relationship between them would turn out.
"It's going to take time, Jack."
"I know. And I'm willing to put in the investment, if you are."
She studied him closely. "I am."
"Good." He kissed her hard on the mouth and then went over to the desk and pulled open
a drawer.
"Jack?"
He looked up.
"Just so you know, I'm perfectly fine with public transportation. But that doesn't mean I
want you to buy me a bus to prove your affection, okay?"
He was laughing as he took out a long envelope. "It's a deal."
The single sheet of paper he slid free was the same pale brown color as the one she'd
discovered but much smaller. "This is a letter fragment I found five years ago when we were
cleaning out my father's things."
She came over as Jack read from it aloud. "My dearest heart, surely I wanted to come
unto you. It was fear, not a failing of love, that kept me away. To risk all for one look upon your
face seems a paltry exchange, but he would find our love as a forsaken betrayal. Your friendship,
long as son to father and father to son, would be devastated. And how, thereafter, could you fight
under his command? But after Concord we shall meet again at He looked up. "That's all there
is."
She stared at him, amazed. "May I see it?"
He handed the document to her. The handwriting was different, more curvaceous. A
woman's, she thought.
"I saved it," Jack said, "because it was old and curious, but I never thought it had
anything to do with Nathaniel. Many members of the family served in the military and fought in
conflicts in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. But considering the sheet you
found, it makes me think."
"It certainly does." She compared the two and was struck by how the ink had faded in a
similar way.
Jack shrugged. "I've read all of Nathaniel's journals. He never mentions a woman until he
gets married to Jane Hatte. He does talk about General Rowe, though, the man he fought with
against the British at the Battle of Concord. The two were very close and Rowe did have a wife,
Sarah."
She looked at him. "So maybe Nathaniel and Sarah had an affair."
"It might explain why Nathaniel didn't marry until much later." He took back the letter
and her new find and put them both in the envelope. "Good thing Grace is coming up for the
party next week. Maybe she can fill in some of the details."
Callie cleared her throat. "Listen, about Thanksgiving. I'm sure you'll have guests, so I'm
going back to the city
"But I don't want you to go. Unless you have family to see, stay here."
The words had come out of him fast and hard and she couldn't help but smile.
"Won't you need my room?"
"No. And even if we couldn't put everyone up, I'd send people to a hotel before I'd
displace you."
Her grin widened. "What about the holiday dinner?"
"We don't really do the whole turkey thing. Not since my father died. The big event is our
annual holiday party the day after. Which you are, of course, invited to."
Callie nodded, pleased. "Okay, M stay for both."
He smiled with satisfaction. "And have dinner with me tonight?"
"I'd love to."
"Good. I've got a tough day of off-site meetings ahead of me, but I promise to be back
around six. And I'll be very hungry by then."
As he looked at her from under heavy lids, her body warmed up. Moving with obvious
intent, he came around the desk, took her into his arms and kissed her until they were both
breathing heavily.
"I'll be thinking of you," Jack said. "All day long."
The feeling was mutual.
Callie spent most of the hours working on the painting, with pictures of Jack floating in
and out of her mind. At four o'clock, she took a break and went out to play with Arthur in the
yard. She was at the side of the house, throwing his favorite tree branch as far as she could, when
a black Town Car pulled into the drive. As Arthur shot after the stick, she watched the limousine
stop under the porte cochere. A uniformed driver got out and opened the rear door.
A tall, slender blond woman emerged from the car. Even from across the lawn, it was
obvious she was someone important. She was dressed in a black suit and, with her short, stylized
hair, she was very chic.
Callie had a fleeting thought that she'd seen the woman somewhere before. Maybe in
Stanley's gallery?
The door to the house opened and Mrs. Walker emerged with arms outstretched. As the
two embraced, Arthur came back with the stick and dropped it on her foot.
She threw it quickly and turned back, but there wasn't much else to see. The two women
had disappeared into the house and the limousine driver was leaning back against the car as if he
was used to waiting.
She returned to work, anxious for the two hours to pass so she and Jack could get away
from the house. It was curious how ten thousand square feet could still be suffocating and she
couldn't wait to be alone with him. She'd decided some necking in that Aston Martin would be a
fine way to start and end an evening. Although on that logic, it was too bad the man didn't drive
a Volvo station wagon.
Or a minivan.
An hour later she heard the garage door go up and the low growl of Jack's car. She
whipped off her breathing mask and ran her fingers through her hair, spreading it out over her
shoulders.
When he got to the second floor, she ate up the wide smile on his face.
"I missed you," he said. "How was your day?"
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