Chapter 17 - The Woman in NavyClaire met Ruth alone at the Mercer Grand ballroom.
Six weeks after the wedding.
The chandeliers were dark.
No tables.
No flowers.
No guests.
The champagne bar was covered.
Ruth stood near the place where she had said:
I did.
Claire stopped beside her.
“Do you regret it?”
Ruth knew what she meant.
“No.”
“Not even the way you did it?”
Ruth considered.
“Yes.”
Claire waited.
“I should have pulled you aside first.”
“You said Daniel might have moved records.”
“He might have.”
“So you would do it the same?”
Ruth frowned.
“That is annoyingly complicated.”
Claire smiled.
Ruth looked toward the empty dance floor.
“I have spent sixty years believing decisive action excuses poor manners.”
“That sounds accurate.”
“You and Nathan are both becoming disrespectful.”
“Maybe you’re inspiring us.”
Ruth almost smiled.
Claire became serious.
“Why did you release the Harbor option?”
“Because it was yours to solve.”
“It wasn’t mine.”
“Your family’s.”
“Still.”
Ruth looked at her.
“Robert trusted me with too much.”
Claire said nothing.
Ruth continued.
“He trusted me because I did not love him enough to protect his reputation.”
Claire stared.
“That is a strange sentence.”
“Your mother loved him enough to hide things.”
“Daniel loved him enough to take blame.”
“You loved him enough to believe the version you were given.”
Ruth looked down.
“I loved him enough to tell him when he was wrong.”
Claire thought of Robert’s letter.
“Did he love you?”
Ruth’s expression tightened.
“Not in a way that matters now.”
“That is not an answer.”
“It is the only one you need.”
Claire let it go.
For once, she did not need every hidden emotion excavated.
Some things could belong to the people who lived them.
Ruth said:
“You remind me of him.”
“I’m getting tired of hearing that.”
“Then stop frowning like him.”
Claire laughed.
The sound echoed through the empty ballroom.
Ruth looked at her.
“You are going to stay with Ethan.”
It was not a question.
“I don’t know.”
“Good.”
Claire blinked.
“You want us to divorce?”
“I want you not to know until you know.”
That sounded unlike the Ruth Mercer Claire had first met.
“What happened to you?”
“Your wedding was exhausting.”
Claire smiled.
Then noticed something behind the bar.
A wooden champagne crate.
The same style from that night.
Her stomach tightened.
Ruth saw.
“I can have it removed.”
“No.”
Claire walked toward it.
She touched the rough wood.
An ordinary object.
That was all.
For weeks she had dreamed about bottles disappearing into it.
Services stopping.
Guests staring.
Control vanishing.
Now it was just a box.
Claire turned.
“Do you know what I thought when you said ‘I did’?”
“That you wanted to kill me?”
“Approximately.”
“Reasonable.”
“I thought you hated me.”
“I didn’t.”
“I know.”
Ruth stepped closer.
“I thought you were marrying Ethan into a situation neither of you understood.”
“You were right.”
“I also thought stopping the money was more important than protecting your dignity.”
Claire waited.
Ruth said:
“That part was wrong.”
The apology was not dramatic.
That made it stronger.
Claire nodded.
“Thank you.”
They stood silently.
Then Ruth said:
“I kept one thing from the wedding.”
Claire looked suspicious.
Ruth walked to a storage cabinet.
She returned holding a small box.
Inside were two champagne flutes engraved with:
CLAIRE & ETHAN.
Claire stared.
“They never reached your table.”
“Because you canceled service.”
“Yes.”
Claire picked up one glass.
For the first time, the memory did not feel entirely like theft.
Maybe someday the glasses would belong to a celebration.
May you like
Maybe not.
She took the box anyway.
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