Sleeping Beauty (44 page)

A heavy bank of clouds covered the sun. Shadows vanished; the lake turned steely gray. In the chill air, Anne shivered.

“Let's get out of here,” Josh said. Hurriedly they took sweaters and waterproof jackets from their backpacks and pulled them on, and retraced their steps around the lake. “Do you want to go first?” he asked.

“Fine,” she replied, and moved ahead, taking long steps. Going down was almost as much work as going up because she had to hold herself back on the steepest parts, but as the sky grew darker, she moved almost at a jog, keeping her knees bent, placing her feet against half-buried rocks to keep from sliding on the dirt and loose stones of the trail. She heard Josh behind her, step for step, and she thought of the words he had said.
Thoughts to match yours. Thoughts to challenge yours. Two minds meeting, two hands touching, two hearts joining
. The words beat in her mind in time with the pounding of her feet. Such amazing words, she thought; most people wouldn't think them, much less say them aloud. He's a man of ideas and lovely phrases. But how many of them are genuine?
The poet in me run amuck
. He'd said he had learned to control it, but he probably hadn't. It was pleasant to listen to him, but one shouldn't take such fanciful talk seriously.

She felt a drop on her hair, and barely had time to think of rain before she realized it was hail. In less than a minute ice pellets were striking the trees and the trail, making a tremendous roar. Anne gasped as they drummed on her head. She came to a stop. Her feet left footprints on the white trail, her hands were ice-cold.

From behind, Josh grabbed her arm and pulled her with him off the trail into the dense forest of pines and firs. The noise of the hail faded as if a window had closed; it became a harmless-sounding patter high above. He pulled a poncho from his pack and spread it on the ground beneath a
Douglas fir. “We'll wait it out,” he said. “I have great respect for mountain storms.”

Shivering, Anne rummaged in her pack for Gail's waterproof pants. “I didn't bring snowshoes; I hope this is the last change of weather we have for a while.”

Josh chuckled. He pulled on his own rain pants and brought out a thermos. “My last offering for the day. I hope you drink coffee black.”

“Yes. Do you always plan so thoroughly? I'm very impressed.”

He sat back against a tree and handed her the plastic cup filled with steaming coffee. “Your grandfather must have taught you about the unpredictability of the mountains.”

“He did, but I haven't hiked for years.”

“Years? You're very strong; you were hiking as if you did it every week.”

Anne smiled. “Lots of tennis and even more stubbornness.” She held the cup in both hands, warming them. The small clearing where they sat was like a misty cave bordered by dark pines. They heard distant thunder and the steady beat of hailstones on the pine needles and branches far above. Now and then a hailstone would slip through the dense trees, and bounce near them, lying like a tiny pearl on the forest floor. Anne watched one as she sipped the coffee. She sighed and handed the cup to Josh. “That's so good. It's amazing, how cold it can get, so quickly.”

Josh drank from the cup and handed it back to her. “How did you choose divorce law?” he asked.

“I found I was good at it. I had a big case in New York about a year after I passed the bar; a friend of mine sent her cousin to me and there was a lot of money involved: children, trusts, property, even a foundation. We negotiated for three months, and we got a good settlement without bloodshed or even major hostilities. There was a pretty good atmosphere for the children to grow up in, probably the best we could have hoped for. I liked making that happen.”

“You were thinking of the children.”

“They were the most scared. They didn't have anything to hold on to.”

“And then they had you.”

She shook her head. “It wasn't that dramatic. They needed someone to tell them what was happening with their parents. I was able to do that, and help them feel that people still cared about them.”

Josh took the empty cup from her and refilled it. “They must have been very grateful. How old were they?”

“Nine, eleven, and twelve.”

“Vulnerable ages. Do you like your work?”

“Yes.” She looked at him in surprise. “Don't you?”

“Yes; we're among the lucky ones. What is it you like? Winning? Helping children? Seeing justice done?”

“All of it. If you're asking if I like being in the business of ending marriages, that has nothing to do with it.”

“I apologized for that, in your office,” Josh said. “I'll do it again now, if you'd like.”

“No, I shouldn't have brought it up again. It made me very angry at the time.”

“I was angry when I said it. That was one of those times when I went too far. I know damn well a divorce lawyer doesn't end marriages, or any relationships; they've ended long before they reach your office. All you get is the rubble. In fact, you must get very discouraged about the possibilities of any relationship. You never see the beginning, when there's hope; you only get the residue of anger and weariness and vindictiveness. I suppose that's what I was thinking of that day, destruction in general, and you seemed to be preoccupied with tearing down instead of building up.”

Anne nodded. “But there isn't any life without destruction. Our job is to survive it.”

He gazed at her. “Is that what you think life is all about? Surviving destruction?”

“Isn't that what you study? Cultures that prosper and then disappear because they couldn't survive one kind of destruction or another?”

He handed the cup to her, noting how smoothly she had shifted the conversation away from herself. She'd had a lot of practice in that, he thought. “I study prosperity as much as destruction,” he said. “I'm interested in the strengths that
make societies flourish as much as in the weaknesses that make them fail. It's the same as studying people, you know: what makes us strong and creative, how we become everything we're able to be. And also how we survive destruction. We need it all. How else can we be fully human except by building societies and relationships and ideas? Just crawling out of the ruins won't do anything but develop our defenses.”

Anne was silent. She gave the cup to Josh and looked at the branches above them, listening to the silence. “Shall we try to go on? I think the storm is over.”

“So do I.” He drained the last of the coffee and returned the thermos to his pack. They left the protection of the clearing, Anne walking ahead, and moved down the trail. The sun was burning through the clouds, and as the air grew warmer, the trail turned to mud. It was so slippery that she kept her eyes on her feet. She looked up once, and came to an abrupt halt. “Look,” she said. A silvery mist hung over the mountains, and the green and gold trees, the rock outcroppings, the jagged peaks—all shimmered in the soft sunlight, as pale and delicate as a painting on gauze. “So beautiful,” Anne breathed. Her face and hands were cold from the mist, and her hair was wet, but she stood still, lost in the dreamlike scene. “I've never seen the mountains so beautiful.”

Josh was close behind her, his arm touching hers. He had almost run into her when she stopped so suddenly. “It is beautiful,” he agreed. “But I'd rather have sunlight and shadow. I like a more solid world.”

“Do you like art that's all sunshine and shadow?” she asked over her shoulder as they walked on.

“Well, that's a good point,” he said. “I collect all kinds of art. I have a good collection; I'd like to show it to you. After we do our tour of the Ancient we'll have drinks at my apartment and then go somewhere for dinner. If you'd enjoy that.”

“I would,” Anne said, and concentrated on the slippery trail for the rest of the walk down.

By the time they reached the car, the sun was blazing and
the clouds had settled along the horizon, like a more distant range of mountains. Anne and Josh took off their rain gear and tossed it in the back of his jeep. Anne pulled off her wet tennis visor and shook her head. Soaking wet, her hair framed her face in a wild mass of curls. Josh was watching her. “You're very beautiful,” he said. “And this has been one of the best hikes I've ever had. Thank you.”

“I enjoyed it,” Anne said. “And thank you for lunch.”

“The truffles were the high spot.” He drove down the road, slowing down in the muddy ruts. “We'll explore the Ancient in a few days; I'll call you. Will you be free this weekend?”

“No, I'll be working; I have so much catching up to do. I've never taken four days off before.”

“Then we'll do it at night. That really will be private; only a few guards to keep us company.” He stopped the jeep at the intersection and they both gazed at the traffic on the highway into Tamarack. “It's always a shock, coming back to the world,” Josh murmured. He put his hand on Anne's. “Thank you again; it's been a very special afternoon.”

Quietly, she moved her hand away. “For me, too,” she said.

There was a break in the traffic and Josh pulled onto the highway. They drove in silence until they reached Gail and Leo's house. “I'm looking forward to Los Angeles,” he said.

Anne pulled her pack and rain gear from the back of the jeep. “So am I,” she replied. “Very much.” As she went into the house, she found it interesting to realize how much she really meant it.

*   *   *

Vince was at a Labor Day fund-raising barbecue in the mountains outside Denver when Keith Jax finally caught up with him. “I've called you three times. You ought to fire your butler; he's not giving you your messages.”

“I got them. Keep your voice down.” Vince steered him from the group of people to whom he had been talking, down one of the hallways of the sprawling house to a small spare bedroom. The house belonged to Sid Folker, a banker who was one of Vince's top contributors and who, just a few
days earlier, had been let in on the secret that Vince was considering a run for the presidency. “We can sit here for a few minutes,” Vince said.

“Hey, you could at least offer a guy a drink.”

“Later. Tell me why you're here.”

“Christ, Vince, I just flew in from Tamarack—”

“Why? What's going on?”

“Well, your friend's there. Anne what's-her-name. Gail's sister.”

Vince's gaze fastened on him. “You saw her?”

“Right. Outside City Hall a couple nights ago; she was there with Josh. You know, Dora's guy. Former guy.”

“Durant? What the hell was she doing with him?”

“You got me. Well, Leo was there, too, but she was, you know, talking to Josh when I saw her. I couldn't get close; it was a mob scene. They trucked in water, you know, well, you know all that, the reservoir zapping the water supply—”

“Is that all?” Vince asked.

“Well, what I did was, I sorta kept an eye on Gail's house today, and they took off about noon. Anne and Josh. You know, hiking. They had backpacks. He must really be hung up on that family. I always did think he was kinda weird. Anyway, you said you wanted me to find out what she wanted—”

“Did you?”

“Not yet; how did I know if you still wanted me to? I mean, that was back in July. And you know, that thing about getting rid of her; I didn't know if you still like wanted that either. Or what you meant exactly. Pay her off or what. So, anyway, I figured you'd want to know she's there so I flew in. And I oughta get a drink for that, Vince, and dinner, and I can stay at your place tonight, right? And go back tomorrow.”

“There you are! Looking for you all over!” Sid Folker came to Vince, shaking his finger. “People want to see you, Senator—you sure know how to get a crowd revved up—and here you are, hiding yourself. Oh, sorry, didn't mean to interrupt.”

Vince stood. “Sid, this is my nephew Keith Jax. I took the liberty of inviting him tonight; he's a kind of unofficial assistant and a damned good one; he's a big help to me.”

Folker pumped Keith's hand. “Good to have you here, Keith. Anybody Vince wants is welcome here. Your uncle is an important man, Keith, a great man, but I'll bet you already knew that. You stick with him, you'll go a long way. All the way to the top, that's what we're aiming for. We're on a roll here—you sense that, Vince? You can just feel it in the air!—and there is nothing gonna stop us. Well, now, Keith, you don't have a drink! Let's take care of that. Vince, I want you to meet a couple people just moved here from California; they elected their guy president from there, and I told 'em they might have a chance to do it again, here in Colorado. 'Course I didn't say anything definite—first we take care of next November; send you back to the Senate with flying colors—but I didn't think a little hint would be out of place; these people are very big players, and they're anxious to meet you. Keith, you look like the kind of fella can find his way to the bar on his own.”

Keith was looking at Vince, his eyes narrowed as he tried to take in all the information he was getting. “Sure. Thanks. I'll see you later, Uncle Vince, at your place, okay?”

“Absolutely,” Vince said. “It'll be good to have you there, Keith; that apartment gets damned lonely with just me in it. It's much too big, of course,” he said to Folker, “but I keep hoping I'll find some wonderful lady to share it with me.”

Folker grunted. “I'm glad you brought that up, Vince. I've got somebody I think you ought a meet. A widow. Widows are good, you know; can't blame 'em for being single. She's a sweetie, sweet and simple, you'll like her. Stick around after the barbecue; we'll have a private little group for dessert.”

“I will, Sid. What a friend you are. Thanks.”

But it was not Sid he was thinking about as they walked back to the living room; it was Keith. He was twenty-eight years old and he had never held a job until Leo gave him one as assistant mountain manager at Tamarack. And he owed it all to Vince. It was Vince whom Keith had called from prison two years earlier; he'd stabbed a bartender in a brawl
over drugs outside a Miami bar, and he didn't want his mother to know about it. So it was Vince who paid his bail, and paid off the bartender, Vince who hired a lawyer, Vince who sent Keith to a hospital outside Chicago to get clean. And it was Vince who sent him to Tamarack, and talked to Leo about giving him a job.