Danielle Steel - Southern Lights

Eventually, he paid the check, and she thanked him for lunch. She hailed a cab to go back to work, and said goodbye to him in front of the restaurant. She had given him her card, and was surprised when he called her on her cell that afternoon.

“Hello, Alexa, it’s Edward.” His deep voice and southern accent were easy to recognize.

“Thanks again for lunch. It was fun.”

“I enjoyed it too. I just had a thought. I’m having dinner with my ex-wife tomorrow night and her husband, and I wondered if you might like to meet them. She’s a wonderful person.”

“I’d like that very much,” Alexa said. She gave him her address, and he said he’d pick her up at eight. She was startled when she hung up, and didn’t even know what to say to Savannah, so she said nothing. She just got dressed for dinner the following night, and put on a black suit that she usually wore to court.

“What are you all dressed up for?” Savannah asked her as she came out of her bedroom. She was going to the movies with friends.

“I’m having dinner with a senator and his ex-wife.” Even saying it sounded absurd.

“You’re what? What senator?” Savannah didn’t know of any that her mother knew.

“Senator Edward Baldwin, from South Carolina.” Savannah vaguely remembered hearing that he was at the wedding but hadn’t met him. Luisa had been bragging about him.

“Did you meet him at the wedding?”

“Your father introduced me. He’s very nice. Just as a friend. He followed the Quentin case on TV.”

“So did the whole country.” She looked at her mother more closely then. “Is this a date?” She was stunned. Her mother hadn’t said a word.

“No. Just a friend,” Alexa repeated. She looked blank.

“What’s with the ex-wife?” Savannah looked suspicious, and her mother laughed.

“They’re good friends.” And with that, the doorman buzzed the intercom in the apartment and told her that there was a car waiting for her downstairs. She kissed Savannah, picked up her purse, and ran out the door, as Savannah stood staring after her and then rushed for her cell phone. She called her New York grandmother immediately, and Muriel answered on the first ring.

“Hi, cutie.” She could see that it was Savannah. “What’s up?”

“Red alert. Holy shit. I think Mom has a date.”

“How do you know? With who?” Muriel was immediately interested.

“She got dressed up, and she was having dinner with a senator she met at Travis’s wedding, and his ex-wife.”

“His ex-wife?” That sounded strange to her. “They’re friends,” Savannah said in a conspiratorial tone.

“What senator?”

“Baldwin, from South Carolina.”

“Well, I’ll be damned,” Muriel said, and they both burst into gales of excited laughter.

The evening with Edward Baldwin’s ex-wife was fun, unexpected, and totally crazy. She and her husband had a penthouse on Fifth Avenue, three unruly teenage sons, and he was a successful movie producer. As soon as Alexa met him, she recognized the name. And his wife was a best-selling author. She said she had only started writing after she left Edward, but Alexa knew she had had an extremely successful career ever since. She had met her husband when he had bought her book and produced the movie eighteen years before. They were attractive and funny and nuts. Sybil was wearing some kind of flowing robe she’d bought in Morocco. Her husband was in jeans and an African shirt. They had four dogs who were everywhere, King Charles Spaniels, and a parrot on a perch in the living room. Alexa had read several of her books. She was the daughter of a famous Hollywood producer, and now married to one. And it was obvious that she and her ex-husband genuinely liked each other, and he got on famously with her husband. Their children treated Edward like an uncle, which was a far cry from Luisa’s performance with Savannah.

This was straight out of a movie, but it was also a lot of fun. They boiled lobsters for dinner and all helped while the dogs barked, the phones rang, the stereo blared, and the kids’ friends came in and out as though there were a party going on somewhere. Their whole life was a party, and they enjoyed themselves. Sybil was very pretty and about ten years older than Alexa, somewhere around forty-nine or fifty.

It was the funniest and most entertaining evening Alexa had ever had. They all had a great sense of humor, even the kids, who had been friendly, and the parrot spoke only four-letter words.

“She wasn’t quite that zany when I married her,” Edward explained as he took Alexa home. “Brian has kind of brought it out in her, and it works for them. But she was a lot of fun then too. She was a terrible practical joker, and always had a whoopee cushion in her purse. She’s basically just a really wonderful woman.” He smiled lovingly as he said it.

“Do you miss her?” Alexa asked boldly.

“Sometimes,” he said honestly. “But I was a lousy husband. In those days, I wanted politics more than my marriage. She deserved better than that. And she got it with Brian.”

“And now? Do you still want politics more?” She liked him, and he had an interesting life. He was a collection of odd contrasts, the old and the new, the North and the South. His ex-wife said she hated the South. She thought it was hypocritical, antiquated, and uptight. Alexa liked it more than that, but she could see her point, in some circles. Luisa embodied all the worst of the South. But others were shining examples of everything good about it. And there was so much about Charleston Alexa had loved.

“I don’t know,” Edward said in answer to her question. “Politics are still the driving force in my life. But I don’t want just that. At one point I did. I don’t want to wind up alone, but I don’t want to go through all the bullshit you have to go through to wind up with the right person, or maybe the wrong one. I want to wake up married to the right person. But I don’t want to make any effort to get there, or take the risk of making a mistake. Which means, I’ll probably wind up alone.” He laughed. The prospect didn’t seem to disturb him. “I guess I’m lazy.”

“Or scared,” she challenged, and he nodded slowly.

“Maybe,” he admitted. “And you?”

“Teriffied for the last ten years,” she said honestly.

“And now?”

“Maybe thawing out.” She wasn’t sure.

“You have good reason to be scared after what your husband did to you. That was rotten.”

“Yes, it was. I never had any desire to try again with someone else. I thought the risks were too high. I think I feel more relaxed about it now. But I was gun-shy for a long time.”

“Relationships are so damn complicated,” he said gruffly, and she laughed.

“Ain’t that the truth.” And then they talked of other things, until he dropped her off. She thanked him, they shook hands, and his limousine drove off as she walked into her building. He was going back to Washington in the morning.

Predictably, his cell phone rang as the car took him to his hotel. It was Sybil, his ex-wife.

“She’s perfect for you. Marry her immediately” was Sybil’s opening line, and he groaned loudly.

“I knew that would happen if I introduced her to you. Mind your own business. I just met her.”

“Fine. Then give it two weeks and propose. She’s terrific.” Sybil had loved her, and so had Brian.

“You’re nuts, but I love you,” he said happily. He loved his friendship with Sybil, better than he had their married life. It had been more commitment than he wanted then. All he really cared about then was his political life. Sybil knew it, so she made a graceful exit, before Brian came along.

“I love you too,” Sybil said sweetly. “Thanks for bringing her. I really like her. She’s smart and honest and fun and beautiful. You won’t do better than that.” He had done all right with her, but that was a long time ago.

“I’ll let you know how it works out,” he said firmly, with no intention to tell her.

“Goodnight, Eddy,” she said, as he reached the hotel.

“Goodnight, Sybil. Give my love to Brian, and thanks for dinner.”

“Anytime.” And she clicked off. She truly was nuts, but he loved her, in the nicest way.

Edward called Alexa again before she left for Europe, and got her schedule there. He wasn’t sure, but he thought their paths might cross in London or Paris, and he said he’d call her if that was the case. He had to go to Hong Kong first. He seemed to travel constantly. The day before they left for Europe, Alexa attended the sentencing in the Quentin case. Luke Quentin was no longer wearing a suit. He was wearing a jail-issue jumpsuit, as he had in the interrogations. He looked unkempt and angry, and was curt with his attorney and blamed her for his conviction. He was far angrier now at Judy than Alexa. His defense counsel took the brunt of his blame. He ignored Alexa completely, which was a relief.

Jack was there, but Sam wasn’t. He was on another case.

The judge did what he said he would, and gave him the maximum sentence for each charge, and ran them all consecutively, a hundred and forty years in prison, life without parole, several lifetimes. He would never see the light of day again. He said something rude to the public defender as he was led from the courtroom, and didn’t look at Alexa. The war was over. He no longer cared. He would be transferred to Sing Sing prison within the next few days.

Alexa left the courtroom with Jack. Some of the relatives of the victims had come to the sentencing, but most hadn’t. Charlie and his family weren’t there. They had all gone back to work, and were satisfied with the convictions. They could guess the rest and would be notified later. It was over for them too. And sadly, the eighteen young victims were gone forever.

The press was there, but not as forcefully as they had been at the trial. Alexa left the courtroom when it was over, and drove away with Jack. Luke Quentin was just another case, a dangerous criminal they had put away. There would be other cases, although less sensational than this one. The Quentin case had been the high point of her career.