Until She Comes Home (27 page)

James and Grace won’t sail on the
Ste. Claire
this year because the baby is so close to coming. But they have already agreed. On July 4, they’ll drive to the foot of Woodward and watch as the passengers gather on the gangplank, and after everyone has boarded, the ship will pull away, drawing a lazy wake behind her. Steam will flow from her stacks, and the hollow horn will blast, echoing through the streets of downtown Detroit. It’ll be a lonely sound and, for a time, Grace will feel something has been lost. But then she’ll remember the shine on the brass railings and the glossy dance floor where she first fell in love with her husband. She and James will watch and listen until the boat disappears down the Detroit River, leaving behind an empty stretch of water. They’ll take their own daughter one day and they’ll always arrive early to secure a spot in the front of the line so the railings and the fittings will shine as if never before touched.

At the end of Mr. Symanski’s sidewalk, Grace pushes open his iron gate. The latch is broken. Tonight, over supper, she’ll ask James to fix it. She and James, together, will come this weekend to trim Mr. Symanski’s lawn and invite him for Sunday supper. Grace will make a roast and potatoes and Mr. Symanski and James will watch baseball on the television. Bill and Julia and the girls will come for dessert. The girls like to sprinkle salt on the ice when James makes ice cream. Then they’ll sit outdoors until long past dark. On the other side of the gate, Grace pulls it closed and walks toward home.

It has been my great fortune to again work with the wonderful Denise Roy. My deepest thanks to you, Denise, for your suggestions, observations, and insights and for knowing my characters better than I know them. My thanks, also, to Brian Tart and the entire team at Dutton and Plume for their support of my work.

Over the past few years, during which I have had the privilege to work with Jenny Bent of the Bent Agency, I have learned that perseverance is a most important quality in an agent. Jenny is a shining example of this trait. My thanks to you, Jenny, for never giving up, for your honesty, and for your guidance.

I would again like to thank Karina Berg Johansson and Adam Smith for their friendship and for wielding those red pens with abandon. Thank you to Stacy Brandenburg for the laughs and to Kim Turner for the ongoing support.

My thanks to Orville and Evelyn Roy, Suzanne Lanza, and Michele Moons for sharing their memories of the great city of Detroit. My thanks to my mother, Jeanette, for inspiring dedication and to my father, Norm, for being the first storyteller in my life. Supper continues to be late at my house and the laundry is never caught up, so, once again, thanks to Bill, Andrew, and Savanna for always understanding.

And finally, as I once worked in the corporate world, I know there are a great many people laboring on behalf of my books who I never get a chance to work with directly or to thank. So my thanks to all of you in sales, publicity, design, editing, distribution, inventory control, IT, HR, legal, finance, tax, manufacturing, and all other Penguin divisions I may have forgotten. And because I once was one . . . thank you to the accountants.

Lori Roy was born and raised in Manhattan, Kansas, where she graduated from Kansas State University. Her debut novel,
Bent Road
, was awarded the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best First Novel by an American Author, named a 2011
New York Times
Notable Crime Book, and chosen as a 2012 Notable Book by the state of Kansas.
Until She Comes Home
is her second novel. Lori currently lives with her family in west central Florida.