* * *

The next day Alexa and Savannah flew to London and stayed at a little hotel that Alexa had remembered from her youth. They had tea at Claridge’s and visited the Tower of London, walked New Bond Street, and gaped at all the jewelry and pretty clothes. They watched the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace and visited the royal stables. They did all the fun tourist things and shopped in Knightsbridge, Carnaby Street, and the flea market in Covent Garden, where Savannah bought a T-shirt for Daisy. And they went to see several plays. They had a wonderful time, and flew to Paris after five days.

They checked into a small hotel on the Left Bank, and started their stay out with lunch at an open-air café, planning their attack on the city and what to do first. Alexa wanted to go to Notre Dame, and Savannah wanted to take a boat ride on the Bateau Mouche on the Seine, and walk along the quais. They decided to do all three and had time that afternoon. And they wanted to see the view from Sacré Coeur the next day, and visit the Louvre and Palais Tokiyo. They went back to the hotel to rest for a while before dinner, and Senator Baldwin called Alexa there. He had just arrived in Paris and was in the city for two days on his way to the South of France.

“What have you ladies been up to?” he asked her, and she reported on their assorted doings. He was impressed by all they’d done. “Could I talk you both into dinner tonight, or do you have other plans?” Alexa asked if she could check with Savannah and call him back.

“What do you think?” Alexa asked her, extending Baldwin’s invitation to them both.

“I think it’s great. Why don’t you go alone?” She had just turned eighteen, and felt very grown up, and capable of wandering around Paris for an evening on her own.

“I don’t want to go alone. I’m here with you. Do you want to do it, or is it too boring for you?” Savannah was her priority, and this was their trip. Savannah wanted to meet him and check him out, and it sounded fun to her. He was a senator, after all. How bad could it be?

Alexa called him back five minutes later, and said they accepted with delight. He was staying at the Ritz, and suggested they come there for dinner, and they could eat in the garden. The weather was beautiful and warm. He invited them for eight-thirty. And at the appointed hour, Alexa and Savannah met him at the restaurant, wearing skirts and sandals and pretty blouses, with their blond hair brushed straight down their backs. They looked more like sisters than mother and daughter, and he said they looked like twins.

The hotel was very beautiful, with an ornate mirrored lobby and huge vases of flowers everywhere. And the garden table where the headwaiter settled them was relaxed and balmy in a marble courtyard with a fountain, and there was music coming from the main restaurant. It was a perfect way to spend a warm Paris night, and he looked happy to see them.

“How was Hong Kong?” Alexa asked him after introducing him to Savannah, who was unusually quiet. She was watching him and how he looked at her mother. No question, he liked her, and not just as a friend. Savannah approved. He seemed nice, he was friendly, he wasn’t pompous, and he had a good sense of humor. It was a good beginning.

“Short, hot, and busy,” Edward Baldwin said about Hong Kong. “I’m looking forward to the South of France. I haven’t had a vacation in months. I need one.” He led a stressful life, and so did she. Particularly after the Quentin trial and four arduous months of preparation.

They ordered dinner, and he asked Savannah about her plans for school. He was impressed by Princeton, and said that his daughter was a senior at UCLA and wanted to go to medical school. She didn’t want to come back to the East, and was hooked on California and hoping to get into Stanford.

“My mom wouldn’t let me go there.” Savannah smiled at him. “Too far away, but I didn’t get into Stanford anyway. UCLA’s a great school. I should have applied there, but I didn’t.”

“Princeton will be fine, thank you,” Alexa interjected. “I don’t want you three thousand miles away. Four months in Charleston was bad enough. I miss you too much,” she said, and both the senator and her daughter smiled at her. She was honest about it. “You’re the only kid I have.”

They talked about art and theater then, and what Savannah wanted to study. It was like an easy evening with an old friend, and he was good with kids. She had seen that when she had had dinner at his ex-wife’s house with her three teenage sons, who were in and out constantly and seemed totally at ease with Edward and he with them. He told Savannah she should come to Washington and visit the Senate. She looked interested, and he told her she was welcome anytime. He had an easy, comfortable way with people and a sharp mind. And by the end of the evening, Alexa and Savannah were totally at ease with him. He walked them out after dinner and put them in a cab back to their hotel. They stood in the Place Vendôme for a minute, admiring how beautiful it was. It was all lit up and spectacular looking with the obelisk in the center. And then they got in the cab and gave the driver the address of their hotel on the Left Bank. Edward waved and strode back into the Ritz.

“I like him,” Savannah said, as they drove across the Alexandre III Bridge to the Left Bank.

“I do too,” Alexa admitted. “Just as a friend.”

“Why just as a friend?” Savannah challenged her. “Why not more than that? You can’t stay alone forever. I’m leaving in September. Then what are you going to do?” Savannah was serious. She worried about her. And it was time for her mother to have a man in her life again. It had been too long, and she was still young. She wasn’t even forty yet, although she would be soon. Edward Baldwin was fifty-two, which Savannah thought was a good age for her mother.

“Stop trying to get rid of me,” Alexa complained. “I’m fine like this.”

“No, you’re not. You’re going to wind up an old maid,” Savannah threatened her, and Alexa laughed.

She called Edward Baldwin the next day to thank him for dinner. He was leaving that night for Ramatuelle, and said he’d call her when he was in New York again, which sounded nice to her. She wasn’t sure if he would or not. She wasn’t worried about it, but she had enjoyed her two evenings with him, and lunch. She was flattered that he’d asked her out at all.

Alexa and Savannah spent the rest of the week in Paris, enjoying all the sights, and decided not to go to the South of France. They went straight to Florence instead and loved it, spending hours in museums and galleries and churches. Then they decided to go on to Venice and do more of the same. They spent five days there in a funny old hotel on the Grand Canal. It was magical. And they flew home from Milan after nearly three weeks in Europe. They were both thrilled with what a perfect trip it had been.

And it was hard getting back to New York and real life. Alexa hated to start work again, and two days after they returned, Savannah flew down to Charleston to see Turner. She stayed with Julianne for a few days, and then her father. She was planning to stay for two weeks. Luisa was away, and Daisy was at camp for the month.

And in New York, Alexa was shocked by how lonely she was in the apartment without Savannah. She didn’t have the trial to keep her busy now, and she hated coming home to the empty apartment at night. Her mother and Stanley were away too, on the trip to Montana and Wyoming.

She had dinner with Jack and complained about it.

“You’d better figure something out quick,” he warned her. “She’s leaving for college in a couple of weeks, and then it’s forever.”

“Thanks,” Alexa said glumly. They had just gotten a robbery case to work on together that day, and it didn’t interest either of them a lot. She was in the doldrums at home and at work.

Things got better and livelier again when Savannah came back from Charleston. Her friends were in and out of the apartment constantly to say goodbye. Alexa and Savannah had things to buy and pack, all her favorite clothes to pack again, she needed sheets and towels for school. They dragged a trunk home to put everything in. They managed to get it all together by September 1st. And on her last night in New York, they had dinner with her grandmother and Stanley. They had just gotten back from Moose, Wyoming. They were both wearing new cowboy boots and jeans and cowboy shirts, and Savannah laughed and told them they looked cute.

They had dinner at Balthazar in the Village, which Savannah liked, and her grandmother promised to come and visit her at Princeton soon. It was only an hour and a half away. And Tom and Travis had said they’d come up too in October.

As Alexa lay in bed that night, it was hard to believe that it was all over. All those years of living together, and taking care of her, and being alone with her, and now she was going. Alexa felt devastated, and knew it would never be the same again. Savannah would come home for visits now, but never to live again, except in the summer. That seemed a long time away right now. The best was over, or so it seemed.

Alexa had rented a van to take her things to Princeton the next day. Savannah was taking a bicycle, her computer, a small stereo, pillows, blankets, a twin bedspread, framed photographs, all the things she needed in college. Savannah had spoken endlessly to the friend who was going to be her roommate. They were already making plans. Savannah was excited and called Turner four times on the ninety-minute drive. He had gotten to Duke the day before and had three roommates in a suite. Savannah having only one roommate in Princeton sounded very civilized to him. He was coming up the following weekend, and Savannah was thrilled.