I fall more in love with her every single day.
And she never wavered in her desire to get her degree. I proudly attended her graduation earlier this year. I ended up setting up a scholarship fund at SCAD for local artists. She was, of course, a beneficiary. She didn’t speak to me for two weeks when she found out it was my money.
I finally got through to her that it was an anonymous fund, and that the selection committee couldn’t have possibly known. She won it fair and square along with two other deserving students.
I really enjoyed exacting an appropriate apology from her, one that we both enjoyed. She didn’t need to know I had designed the selection criteria as specifically as they would allow.
The best part was that I started the fund with money we won suing Tom Price’s magazine for printing the pictures he had no rights to. I’d warned him, he did it anyway, and I’d taken great pleasure in putting him in his place.
Shannon Keith, the journalist who was at Keri Ann’s first big exhibition, has become a friend. Her story ended up going a long way toward neutralizing the public view of what Audrey planned, and after several local residents corroborated the timing and basically made Keri Ann look like Mary Poppins, it was almost over.
The final blow to Audrey’s plan, however, came six months later, when her assistant whom she’d always treated like yesterday’s garbage, quit and went straight to the tabloids. She exposed all of Audrey’s scheming. She described her rages, tantrums, and dirty secrets. One of which was that she’d overheard Audrey and my ex-agent strategizing about a fake pregnancy. It coincided with me being nominated for an award for the movie I’d shot in England, and it was catastrophic for Audrey’s career. She’s been in some small art house movies recently, and I hear she’ll be making an appearance on Dancing with the Stars next season. Maybe that will help.
“When’s everyone arriving?” I ask Keri Ann, suddenly thinking about the time. How much longer do I have her alone, to myself?
“A few hours. The boat is due at 6pm. Katie’s going out to meet it. I think we’ve done about all we can for the ceremony. Now we should just relax and enjoy everyone being together for the weekend.” Keri Ann sighs with contentment. She loves having everyone together, and I love seeing her so happy.
I’m amazed that I feel so at home in a place with which the only link I have is her. “I’m glad I convinced you to let me build a place here where no one can bother us unless we invite them. But I’m thinking we may have to get permission for a helipad, just in case. Then we can come and go more easily.”
“A helipad? Are you nuts? That means a helicopter. I’m not getting into a helicopter!” She shuddered. “You got me on airplanes, let’s be happy with that, okay?”
I chuckle. I’d had to get her drunk on champagne when we got on our first plane together the night of her art event. It had never occurred to me she’d never flown before. By the time we landed in Tahoe for a few days, she was a mess.
“But yes,” she interrupts my memory. “I’m glad you built this place, too. I know Joey would be fine with us staying at the Butler house anytime we wanted, but it’s nice here, and so many memories.” She winks.
“We,” I corrected.
“We what?”
“You said I built this place. We built this place.”
She smiles and shakes her head. “What am I going to do with you?”
“Take me to bed for a quickie before everyone arrives?” I ask hopefully and cock my eyebrow in a way I know she loves.
“A helipad,” she says again, incredulously, shaking her head and not taking my bait.
“What’s the big deal? Another resident here has one on the other side of the island.”
“Then I guess you should make friends and use his,” she suggests. “Anyway, if we have a helipad, someone uninvited may be tempted to land on it.”
She has a point.
“Do you think anyone knows there’s a wedding happening here?” she asks, the thought of uninvited guests obviously sending her mind down a certain path.
“Nope,” I assure her.
“Hmm,” she muses, “I wonder if we should have ours here, too.”
I stiffen. My heartbeat trips, and I realize I may have stopped breathing. “What are you saying?” I manage, hoping I seem curious and not desperately hopeful. It’s useless, I realize, as the hope surges through me and makes me light headed.
She gives me a wide smile, and my heart seizes. “Just getting everything ready for the wedding this weekend made me realize how much I want it to be us, and once I started thinking that, I literally couldn’t stop.” She laughs at my surprised expression.