Chapter 23 - Ruth Gives Up the KeysA week before the gala, Ruth summoned Claire to her office.
Claire arrived suspicious.
“No envelopes.”
Ruth looked offended.
“I am capable of communicating normally.”
“Evidence suggests otherwise.”
Ruth placed a key on the desk.
“What is that?”
“My executive office key.”
“I don’t want it.”
“It is symbolic.”
“That makes me want it less.”
Ruth sighed.
“I am stepping down as chair of Mercer Hotels.”
Claire stared.
“You’re what?”
“Nathan will become chair.”
“Does Ethan know?”
“Yes.”
“And you told him before me?”
“Apparently growth is contagious.”
Claire smiled.
“Why now?”
Ruth looked toward the skyline.
“I built Mercer because my husband died leaving debt and two failing hotels.”
Claire had heard pieces.
“I spent fifty years believing if I stopped controlling things, everything would collapse.”
“That sounds familiar.”
“Yes.”
Ruth looked at her.
“Your wedding taught me something extremely irritating.”
Claire waited.
“I can make the correct decision and still be wrong about my right to make it for someone else.”
Claire became quiet.
Ruth continued.
“Stopping those payments was correct.”
“Yes.”
“Stopping your reception without telling you was not.”
“Yes.”
“Giving up Harbor was correct.”
“Yes.”
“Keeping Robert’s letter until the exact trust condition was…”
Ruth hesitated.
“Legally correct.”
Claire smiled.
“You’re struggling.”
“Very.”
“And emotionally?”
“Cowardly.”
That surprised Claire.
Ruth placed the office key into a drawer.
“I thought following Robert’s instruction absolved me from deciding whether you deserved the truth earlier.”
Claire nodded.
“Sounds like all of you.”
“Unfortunately.”
Then Ruth handed Claire a small leather book.
“What now?”
“My journals.”
Claire recoiled.
“No.”
Ruth laughed.
“Not to keep.”
She opened one page.
An entry from the wedding night.
I canceled the services at 6:43 p.m.
Claire looked at her.
“You wrote the time?”
“I am organized.”
The entry continued:
Claire looked at me as though I had destroyed her life.
Perhaps I destroyed only the illusion that the adults around her were telling the truth.
That may not be much better.
Claire read silently.
Ruth had written:
I hope she does not thank me.
People should not have to thank us for correcting disasters we helped create.
Claire closed the journal.
“You were right.”
“About what?”
“I never thanked you for canceling the reception.”
“Good.”
Claire smiled.
“I thanked you for apologizing later.”
“Also good.”
They hugged.
Ruth was terrible at hugs.
Claire had become used to that.
At the door, Ruth said:
“One more thing.”
Claire groaned.
“What?”
“The champagne for the gala.”
“No.”
“What?”
“You do not get to manage champagne.”
Ruth looked genuinely insulted.
“I own the hotel.”
“Former chair.”
“Not yet.”
“Practice.”
Claire left laughing.
That night she told Ethan about Ruth stepping down.
He smiled.
“Nathan will hate being chair.”
“He loves it already.”
“Yes.”
They sat on the porch.
No crisis.
No investigator.
No bank.
Claire looked at Ethan.
“What if the wedding had gone normally?”
He considered.
“We would have danced.”
“Gone on honeymoon.”
“Yes.”
“Merger vote Monday.”
“Probably.”
“Daniel keeps hiding things.”
“Yes.”
“Mom keeps protecting him.”
“Yes.”
“You stay CFO.”
“Probably.”
Claire leaned back.
“So Ruth destroying the reception…”
“Did not save us.”
“No.”
Ethan looked at her.
“It interrupted us long enough to see what was already broken.”
Claire smiled.
“That sounds like something Elena Reyes would say.”
“Who?”
“Wrong story.”
Ethan stared.
Claire burst out laughing.
May you like
He had no idea why.
She kissed him anyway.
