Give it two rings and hang up.”
Impulsively he brought her into his arms and hugged her. The feel of her soft and pliant body stirred something inside of him, and he released her at once. When she looked at him with an inquiring expression, he explained.
“I’d still be holding you, but I don’t want to lose any points with you.”
She reached up and stroked his left cheek with the back of her hand. “You have some points in reserve. Thanks for a really lovely evening, and get home safely.”
Several thoughts lodged in his mind as he walked away. Had she been telling him that she liked it when he hugged her, that he could have kissed her, or that she would have forgiven him because he’d showed signs of decency?
“Oh, heck!” he said between his teeth. “Why hadn’t she just come out and said it? Getting to know a woman is so damned difficult. I wish they weren’t so mysterious.”
Later, he walked into his apartment and called her. She had his office and cell phone numbers, and he wanted her to know how to reach him on his home phone. The number would register on her phone.
He nearly laughed when she answered on the second ring. “Hi. This is Judson. I’m home without mishap.”
“I’ll thank the Lord when I say my prayers. Good night.”
“You’re a sweet woman. Good night.”
“I’m getting involved with this man,” Heather said to herself the next morning, thinking of her evening with Judson and still uncertain as to the wisdom of it. She enjoyed his company, and he fit well into her comfort zone with no effort. It seemed natural to be with him.
As she entered the elevator she encountered Scott at the State Department. “How’s it going?” he asked as usual.
“Some good and some bad, Scott. With me, you know nothing ever goes perfectly.”
“No? What about you and Judson? Have you seen him yet?”
“Yes, but… We had dinner together last night.”
They stepped off the elevator, and he gently grabbed her left arm. “I don’t get it. I’d have sworn that you two were perfect for each other. Don’t you get along?”
“Stop worrying about us, Scott. He’s… What do I know? I haven’t had enough experience to judge whether it’s right to feel so comfortable with a man you hardly know. I mean, I don’t even bother to put up my guard when I’m with Judson, and that isn’t my style at all.”
“Why shouldn’t you feel comfortable with him? Besides, the real reason you’re comfortable with him is because you trust him.”
“Yes. You may be right. I guess what I’ve needed was a brother.”
A grin spread over his face. “You’ve got a brother. What am I supposed to be?”
She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Scott, that’s the nicest thing you’ve said to me in all the time I’ve known you. If you ever need a sister remember that you have one in me. And if the people on this floor wouldn’t get the wrong idea, I’d hug you.”
He winked at her. “Hug accepted. Save the real ones for Judson.”
“I will,” she said and headed for her office, her steps quick and light. Sitting at her desk, she saw in her in-box a letter, the return address of which told her that this was what she had awaited all of her professional career. With trembling fingers and eyes tightly closed, she pried open the flap of the envelope. And after she forced her eyelids to open, she read that she should make an appointment with her superior for an interview the following morning. Her boss was preparing to appoint an ambassador to Albania.
She wanted the promotion, and it was due, but she did not want to go all the way to Albania. She told Judson as much when he called her a few minutes before noon.
“At least they’re not sending you to Calcutta,” he said. “It could be much worse.”
“It isn’t an appointment. It’s only my first query. They have an opening, and they want to know whether I have the potential to serve as a full ambassador. I definitely do not plan to spend an important chunk of my life in a place that doesn’t have a first-class symphony orchestra,” she complained.
He couldn’t help laughing. “You’ll have to start small, though. At any rate, I’m glad that you’re being recognized.”
“Thanks. So am I. What are you planning for today?” she asked him.
“I have some interviews in connection with that medical malpractice suit. What time do you think you’ll get home tomorrow?”
“Sometime late in the afternoon. Maybe around five-thirty or six.”
“Could we have dinner together at about seven?”
She hadn’t expected him to want to see her again so soon. “I’d like that. Come by for me at six-thirty.” She suspected that she had a lot to learn about Judson. She told herself to be home by five-thirty.
“Thanks. See you at six-thirty. Good luck with your interview tomorrow.” They hung up.
Heather knew that she had no plans to accept a post in Albania, neither then nor ever. Let them give that post to a deserving political junkie. She was a career diplomat, and she had earned their more thoughtful consideration. And if she didn’t get it, she certainly had other, good options.
“I can always practice law,” she said to herself, “or, for that matter, I can teach.”
But the idea of giving up on her dream, as so many of her colleagues had been forced to do, dampened her spirits.
“I’m going to have to postpone our court date,” Judson told Curtis Heywood. “Two of your witnesses don’t want to be involved, and I’ll have to find others. Meanwhile, see if you can locate more evidence. I’ll put my research staff on it, and if there’s evidence of culpability beyond what we have, they’ll find it.”
He put the phone back in its cradle, leaned back in his chair and made a pyramid of his ten fingers. The case didn’t bother him. He knew he’d win it. The problem was to get additional evidence so that it wouldn’t drag on while the defense lawyer manufactured one cockamamy scenario after another.
His thoughts centered on Heather. Her news that she could be sent to Albania didn’t cheer him. Their relationship was too new to withstand a lengthy separation. It was one more reason why he had to get his life in order, beginning with his identity. He left the office an hour earlier than usual, went home and headed for his mother’s bedroom. He’d start there, but, if necessary, he’d search every centimeter of the house and its contents from the basement to the attic. He threw his jacket across a chair, rolled up his sleeves and opened the closet door.
Again, he found nothing of relevance in his mother’s room other than the mysterious birth announcement and the birth and death certificates of the infant who succumbed not long before his parents adopted him. At least that was his impression based on what he knew of the timing of his adoption. He would have to go to Hagerstown and begin the search there.
“I’m
