Legacy of Love

Chapter 23





Zoe’s days were filled but she was making progress. She’d completed three new grants, which she was confident that the museum would receive, and she’d begun selecting new inventory, using many of her contacts and connections that she’d established over the years. Several of the shipments had arrived.

They’d been in New York for more than two months and she couldn’t believe how quickly the time had passed. In a matter of weeks the new exhibit would be mounted and she would finally be able to go home.

Whatever trepidations she’d had about “living” with Jackson were gone. She looked forward to each day waking up with him and coming home to him at night. She’d even begun thinking about a real future with him.

As the weather in New York grew warmer, they visited many of the city’s hot spots, from the Blue Note in the Village where they listened to live jazz, the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State building to boat rides on the Hudson at Chelsea Piers.

They found local restaurants that became their favorites and they’d become experts at ordering in from the innumerable restaurants that delivered.

And at night they found each other and made slow and passionate love that bound them even more closely together. The last thing she expected in their oasis of bliss was the proposition that had the potential to change everything.

She was in her small, cramped office going over the inventory list when she got a call from Eric Lang.

“Chairman Lang. How are you?”

“I’m well. And from what I’ve been hearing you have done a magnificent job.”

“Thank you. What can I do for you?”

“I’m calling because I’ve been in discussions with the administration and the board at the Guggenheim.”

She sat up straighter in her seat. “Yes.” She put down her pen.

He cleared his throat. “The Board at the Guggenheim want to make you an offer.”

“An offer. What kind of offer?”

“To oversee the collection in all the divisions.”

The air stopped in her chest. “What?”

“They want someone with your expertise, not only in African American art but in funding streams as well, and your knowledge of the other divisions.”

Zoe was stunned into silence.

“I know this is a big decision, Ms. Beaumont. I don’t expect you to give me an answer right now. The Guggenheim Board is putting together an offer—a very substantial offer.”

Her thoughts were on scramble. “What about my job at the High?”

“Mike is doing a wonderful job. He’s taken on his new responsibilities and we are all very pleased. We have you to thank,” he added as if that would somehow soften the blow.

“Are you saying that my job is gone?”

“Well…we are considering making some changes.”

“Changes.” She couldn’t breathe. Her face felt hot.

“I do hope that you will think about this. An offer like this one should not be taken lightly. It’s not been done before. You should feel immensely proud. We’ll talk soon.”

Zoe sat there, numb with the phone still in her hand until the buzzing dial tone snapped her back to her new reality.

Finally she hung up the phone, got her purse and checked out for the day. She didn’t call Jackson. He’d told her that morning that he was going to hang out in the village and maybe do some shopping for Michelle and Shay. They’d planned to meet back at the condo that evening.

Zoe strolled the streets of the city and found that the sights and sounds that had excited her when she’d arrived now assaulted her senses. The car horns were louder. The people seemed to have multiplied. The overabundance and excess of everything overwhelmed her.

She wandered into a small eatery and was shown a table in the back. For more than an hour she played with the burger she ordered and nursed a Diet Coke.

She’d built her career at the High. She’d turned it around. For nearly a dozen years, Atlanta had been home for her. And now…

She should be elated. It was true that this was an opportunity beyond anything she could have imagined. But how could she live in New York with a dream job and not have Jackson to come home to?

Her insides felt as if they were splitting. What was she going to do?



When she got back to the condo, Jackson was already there. She wasn’t ready to talk to him about this and knowing him and what he wanted for her, he would tell her to go for it. And that’s not what she wanted to hear.

“Hey, babe.”

“Hey.” She put on her best face and crossed the room to where he was on the couch. She plopped down beside him and rested her head on his chest.

“Tired?”

“Yeah, a little.”

“Well, another week and we’ll be back home and hopefully you won’t have to work so hard.”

“Yeah.” She drew in a long slow breath. “I’m going to take a shower.”

“I fixed dinner. Thought we could stay in tonight. Relax.”

“Sure.”

He watched her walk away, and as much as she’d tried to hide it he saw the trouble in her eyes. She’d talk when she was ready. She always did. He’d give her the space to do that.

In the months that they’d been together he grew to understand the nuances that made Zoe Beaumont so incredible. She was a confluence of complexity, but she was loving and caring and passionate about her work and her family. She was funny and smart and carried the scars of her past deep inside. He hoped with time that he could help her heal some of them. If she would let him.



Zoe stared into the darkness, unable to sleep. Her thoughts wouldn’t stay still. She wanted to talk with Jackson about what had happened, that if she went back to Atlanta, she wouldn’t have a job and if she stayed in New York she would have the job of a lifetime.

At first coming to New York had been an obstacle because of Jackson. But when she’d finally told him, he’d made it all okay and here they were—together. But how could he make this okay? Would he pick up and come to New York, leave his job, his career? She couldn’t ask him to do that. She wouldn’t.



Their last week in New York was a flurry of activity for Zoe. The show was mounted, the brochures printed, the opening scheduled and the offer on her desk.

They wanted her decision, preferably before she returned to Atlanta. She hadn’t decided what she was going to do but what she had decided was that she was going home, celebrate her birthday with her family, talk with her grandmother and find out what her mother had been hiding from her for thirty years.