Danielle Steel - Southern Lights

“I’m not worried about that. I’m thinking about you and Savannah.”

“She’s gone, and I’m fine. And she can just as easily visit you in D.C., from Princeton. And if she wants to come to New York, she can stay with me. I think you should do it.” She was being selfless and honest because she would miss her.

“Me too. I think I should do it. Are you sure you’ll be okay?”

“Yes.” And then her mother sighed too. “Stanley’s been bugging me about living together. We don’t want to get married, but he thinks getting older, neither of us should live alone, and he wants to live together, in his place or mine.” It had taken seventeen years to ask her, and Muriel had been happy the way things were till now.

“What do you want, Mom? Never mind what he wants.”

“I think I like the idea. I was afraid you wouldn’t approve.” She smiled at her daughter, looking a little embarrassed.

“I think he’s right. And I approve. I worry about you too. So is that settled?” Alexa grinned at her mother.

“Maybe. I want to think about it some more. I don’t want to rush into anything.”

Alexa laughed out loud. “How long have you two been dating?”

“I think it’s seventeen years. Stanley says it’s eighteen.”

“Either way, I don’t think you’re rushing.”

“I’ll probably do it. I’d rather he move in with me. I don’t want to give up my apartment, and I don’t like his. He says he’s fine with it. Maybe after Christmas. I’ve got a lot to do before that. What about you. Think you’ll do it?” Alexa nodded.

“Yeah, I think so. Thanks, Mom.” She leaned over and kissed her, and they walked out of the courthouse together.

Alexa thought about it that night, and called Savannah. She was doing homework, and Alexa told her about the offer. She was surprised and impressed. She thought the move to Washington would be fun and good for her mother, and she agreed with her grandmother, she could stay with her in New York, if she wanted to see her friends there. It was a time of transition for all of them.

“Change is a good thing, Mom. Have you heard from the senator, by the way?” Savannah liked him. So did Alexa.

“I think he was staying in Europe till mid- or late August. He’s probably busy.” But in any case, Savannah had given her full approval for the move, and she thanked her mother for asking her too.

Alexa gave Joe McCarthy notice the next day. She felt terrible about it, but he said he understood. He said he figured it would happen sooner or later. He had always assumed she would go into private practice with a big law firm. He had never thought of anything like the FBI.

“They’re smart to hire you.” He gave her a hug. “So when are you leaving us?”

“Does a month’s notice sound reasonable?”

“Very. That gives me time to reassign your cases.”

She thought of something then that she wanted to thank him for again. “Thank you for fighting to let me keep the Quentin case, and not just giving it to the feds.”

“Maybe I should have,” he teased her. “Then they wouldn’t be offering you a job.” And then he hugged her again. “I’m happy for you. I think this is a good career move for you. I hate like hell to lose you, but I approve.”

“Thank you.”

Word of her leaving spread like wildfire in the office. Jack was glaring at her from across her desk by four-thirty that afternoon.

“What the fuck is that about?” he said unhappily.

“I’m sorry, Jack,” she said apologetically. “They made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.”

“It’s going to suck around here without you,” he said miserably, and walked out of her office again, too depressed to talk about it any further.

She was thinking about all she had to do, find an apartment, break her lease on this one, move, start a new job, get her cases reassigned here, when Edward Baldwin called her just before she left the office.

“Can I talk you into a last-minute hamburger? I’m in town for the night. Sorry I haven’t called you since I got back. I’ve been dealing with about four hundred headaches, and I had to spend a week in Charleston. How’s Savannah doing at Princeton, by the way?”

“She loves it.” Alexa smiled. He sounded full of life and busy and like he was running in two hundred directions. And now, so was she. “And the hamburger sounds great. Where should I meet you?”

“I’m about two blocks from your office. Why don’t I pick you up, and we’ll figure it out together?”

“Sounds good.”

She was downstairs five minutes later, and so was he in his town car. He opened the door and she got in, and they sped uptown to his hotel for a drink, and a hamburger later.

“How was the rest of your trip?” he asked her.

“Wonderful. How was yours?”

“Perfect.” He smiled as he said it. “I thought about you a lot. I kept meaning to call you, but I didn’t. I saw your husband in Charleston last week, by the way. I have to admit, he looks miserable. I can see why, his wife was with him, and she looks like she sucks lemons for breakfast and beats him up every night. I’d say the fates got even with him.”

“Maybe so.” She smiled at Edward. It wasn’t her problem anymore.

She told him over their hamburgers that she was moving to Washington and going to work for the FBI, and he looked stunned.

“You are? Now, there’s a huge change. How brave of you.”

“I figured it was a good time to do it with Savannah leaving for college. I probably wouldn’t have before.” But she had made a lot of brave moves recently. She had let Savannah go to Charleston, had visited there herself, she had buried the hatchet with Tom, and now she was changing jobs and cities. It was a time of growth for her too. “I have to start looking for an apartment pretty soon.”

“I’ll help you,” he volunteered with a broad grin. “When do you start with the OCG?” He liked that a lot. He was in Washington most of the time. He had wanted to see her, even if she was living in New York, but this would make it a lot easier for him, and give them more time together to get to know each other.

“I start on November first. And I have a lot to do before then.”

“Why don’t you come down this weekend and start looking?” She thought about it. She had nothing else to do. She looked across the table and smiled at him.

“Okay.”

“We can look for apartments all weekend,” he suggested. It sounded like a plan to her.

Alexa left the DA’s office as planned on November 1st. It was a bittersweet day for her, and Joe McCarthy hosted a dinner for her before she left. They gave her a plaque and a lot of silly joke gifts.

She was leaving for Washington the next day, via Princeton. She had put off starting at the OCG by a week, to give herself time to move into her new house. Her furniture was due in Washington two days later. She had been staying at her mother’s for the past week, which was kind of fun. And Edward was calling her several times a day with plans and invitations. He had invited her to dinner at the White House with him in two weeks.

And she wanted to visit Savannah in Princeton on the way down. When Alexa got there, Savannah looked busy and happy. She’d already made a lot of friends, and Turner was coming up from Duke again that weekend. Savannah’s new life was well off the ground. Now Alexa had to get busy on her own.

She drove to Washington with the last of her things, and when she got to Washington, Edward met her at the tiny house she had rented in Georgetown, instead of an apartment. It looked like a doll-house. He had helped her find it, and she knew Savannah was going to love it. The top floor was just for her. And it had all the room that Alexa needed. It was near Edward’s apartment, which was spacious and modern and convenient for him. He helped her unload the car, and they walked around her empty house together. She loved it. This was a whole new lease on life. New city, new home, new job, and maybe new man. She wasn’t sure yet. But the other changes took the sting out of Savannah leaving for college. They had both graduated to new lives, and Alexa was very excited about her own, as much as Savannah was about being in Princeton.

Edward took her to dinner at Citronella that night, and afterward he escorted her back to her hotel. She was staying there for only one night, and he kissed her before he left. It was the first time he had kissed her and it surprised them both. But she liked it a lot and so did he.

He came to see her at the house when the movers arrived the next day. He stayed till midnight, helping her unpack boxes. She found her linens and he helped her make the bed. He was telling her silly stories and bad jokes, and they were both laughing, as they fell onto the bed, exhausted, and looked at each other, still laughing. He was a nice man, he was good to her, and he made her happy. And he stunned her with what he said next.

“I think I’m falling in love with you, Alexa. Is that all right with you?” He knew how badly burned she had been before, and he didn’t want to upset her, do what she didn’t want, or move too fast.

“I think so,” she said softly. “I think I’m falling in love with you too.” It frightened her to say it, but it felt good too, and was true. She was crazy about him, in a way she hadn’t been in twenty years. He felt just right to her. And she trusted him completely.

“That could be a very good thing for us both,” he said, as he put his arms around her and pulled her close. Everything had fallen into place. Her new life in Washington gave them all the time they needed.

“Would you like to stay here tonight?” she asked him, surprising them both again. Her life was getting crazier by the minute. It felt scary but great at the same time. It was very exciting and so was he.

“I’d love that.” He smiled at her and held her in his arms. A little while later, she took a shower and got into bed, between the clean sheets, and he did the same and came to bed a few minutes later. And a whole new world began for them that night. A world neither of them had thought they’d find again, or even wanted to. It felt like a miracle to both of them.