The Anniversary Read online

  stantial. And then, when she was nine, she’d had a solo in the 4

  spring recital.

  5

  Everything was perfect, just as she’d imagined. She’d flown 6

  across the stage, the lights beaming down, knowing that out in 7

  that velvet darkness all eyes were watching her. But afterwards, 8

  when it was over, she’d found that nothing had changed. As her 9

  sister and parents hugged her backstage, she’d felt like she was 10

  fading. She couldn’t believe it was happening. She’d felt stunned, 11

  betrayed. She’d been so confident that this one evening would 12

  change everything.

  13

  After that, with no explanation, she’d quit taking ballet. Her 14

  parents, surprised, had questioned her, asked her to reconsider.

  15

  She’d always loved dancing. Why stop now? But after what had 16

  happened, she couldn’t see the point. She told them she’d just 17

  lost interest. Puzzled, they let it go.

  18

  Because she always wore long sleeves, her arms were white as 19

  her belly. Now, with a sharp intake of breath, she rolled them 20

  slowly forward, examined the tender, pale skin with its orderly 21

  tracing of scars. Thin white streaks, from elbow to wrist, more 22

  than she could count.

  23

  This is real. It happened. It isn’t something you dreamed.

  24

  The first time she’d slept with Rick, he’d gently touched the 25

  markings. He hadn’t said anything, just looked at her question-26

  ingly. “They’re from a bad time,” she’d said. “I don’t want to talk 27

  about it.” That was four months ago. He’d never asked again.

  28

  Now, the past washed over her as she gazed down at her arms.

  29

  The scars were relics of another lifetime, history carved in flesh.

  30

  31

  h

  32

  Back at work shortly after five, Melanie White struggled to cram 33

  an armload of shopping bags into her office coat closet. There 34

  were more than half a dozen, and she had to shift things to make S 35

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  them fit. The shiny black bag from Barneys. The blue ones from 2

  Bergdorf-Goodman. She’d spent several thousand dollars, but 3

  she felt exhilarated. After this morning’s victory, she felt as if she 4

  deserved it.

  5

  Just six hours ago she’d been in federal court, waiting for district 6

  judge Randolph Lewis to issue his ruling from the bench. She’d 7

  been seated at the counsel table with senior partner Tom Mead.

  8

  Both of them visibly tense, eyes riveted on Lewis. She knew they’d 9

  put on an impressive case, but would that be enough? Judges hated 10

  to dismiss on summary judgment, given the risk of reversal. Safer 11

  to let the case go to trial and decide it based on the record.

  12

  As soon as the judge began to speak, she’d felt a tightness in 13

  her chest. It seemed to take him forever to get through the litany 14

  of facts — how lives had been ruined, savings lost, sacred trusts 15

  violated. No one listening could possibly have doubted his sym-16

  pathy for the plaintiffs.

  17

  Then he’d looked up, paused, and she’d felt a glimmer of hope, 18

  a spark that the words he spoke next quickly fanned to light.

  19

  “However, reprehensible as the conduct is that resulted in 20

  plaintiffs’ losses, I find absolutely no legal basis on which to hold 21

  United Bank liable. United Bank provided loans to Leverett En-22

  terprises, and this money was allegedly used by Leverett as part of 23

  a scheme to defraud the plaintiffs. But even if this allegation is 24

  proven true, plaintiffs have failed to show that United Bank had 25

  any knowledge of the wrongdoing by Leverett, much less any 26

  duty to investigate or to notify the plaintiffs. For the foregoing 27

  reasons, all counts against United Bank are dismissed.”

  28

  Melanie kept her face immobile, but inside she was exultant.

  29

  We won. We won. We won.

  30

  Half an hour later, she was packing up amid a swirl of congrat-31

  ulations. As the senior associate on this case, she’d done the bulk 32

  of the work, and she could tell by Tom Mead’s appreciative glances 33

  that this fact wasn’t lost on him. She’d be up for partnership in 34

  May. Things were looking good.

  35 S

  Then, handing her litigation bag to a junior associate, she 36 R

  caught a glimpse of the Murphys. While the rows around them 3 0

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  T H E A N N I V E R S A R Y

  had emptied out, the couple hadn’t budged. Of the $150,000

  1

  they’d invested with Leverett, less than $6,000 remained. Penny 2

  Murphy had testified that they’d been told the investments were 3

  safe. “They knew we were old, that Wilbur was sick, that we 4

  couldn’t afford any risk.” Last year, they’d been forced to sell their 5

  house. Penny now worked at McDonald’s. Wilbur had had the 6

  second heart attack, from which he still hadn’t recovered. For a 7

  moment, as Melanie looked at the Murphys, the brightness of the 8

  moment faded. What were they going to do? she wondered. How 9

  would they manage to live?

  10

  Tom Mead’s grip was firm and cool as he briefly clasped her 11

  hand. “Good job,” he whispered to Melanie.

  12

  She smiled a tight smile. “Thanks.”

  13

  Another glance at the Murphys, but this time it wasn’t so bad.

  14

  It was terrible what had happened to them, but it wasn’t United 15

  Bank’s fault. It was like the judge had said. Their client wasn’t 16

  liable. It was Leverett who’d lied to the plaintiffs, and Leverett 17

  should pay the price. The problem, of course, as everyone knew, 18

  was that Billy Leverett had vanished. Any assets that might re-19

  main couldn’t be located. At this point, it would take a miracle 20

  for the plaintiffs to get back their money. United Bank had been 21

  their last, best hope, and now even that was gone.

  22

  Still, Melanie reminded herself, it just wasn’t her problem. Her 23

  role was to protect her client’s interests, and she’d done that ad-24

  mirably. United Bank wasn’t an Enron or WorldCom. Its leaders 25

  weren’t corrupt. At most, she thought, they’d shown poor judg-26

  ment in getting entangled with Leverett.

  27

  From court it was on to Le Bernardin, with a coterie of in-28

  house lawyers. Melanie ordered tuna carpaccio with a ginger-29

  lime mayonnaise. She didn’t order an entree. She wasn’t all that 30

  hungry.

  31

  “To Harwich and Young, the best law firm in the city. And es-32

  pecially to Tom and Melanie, who’
ve been on call day and night.”

  33

  Harold Linzer, United’s chief in-house lawyer, was raising a 34

  champagne flute. He had starched white cuffs and square nails, a S 35

  gold signet ring.

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  Melanie toyed with her raw tuna, then took a sip of cham-2

  pagne. As the sparkly radiance flowed through her body, she let 3

  her thoughts drift. For the past six weeks, every waking moment 4

  had been consumed with this case. It felt like something of a lux-5

  ury to reclaim her mental space. Briefly, she thought about the 6

  Murphys again — Where were they having lunch? — then, down-7

  ing the last of her Veuve Clicquot, she held out her glass for a 8

  refill.

  9

  The afternoon shopping spree had been her reward, and then 10

  she’d planned to head home. But the force of habit was too strong, 11

  and she’d ended up back at the office. She needed to check her 12

  messages and at least go through her mail. Tom Mead had urged 13

  her to take a vacation, but she’d politely demurred. With part-14

  nership elections on May 22, she needed to stay on the scene.

  15

  “Do a little shopping?” Vivian Culpepper stood in the door-16

  way, delicate eyebrows arched. Her stylish pale peach pantsuit set 17

  off her clear brown skin.

  18

  Melanie climbed to her feet, smoothing her slim black skirt.

  19

  She tried to shut the closet door, but something inside it jammed.

  20

  She reached down to shove back a wayward bag, then managed 21

  to force the door shut.

  22

  “Congratulations,” Vivian said. “I hear you guys were amazing.”

  23

  The two women embraced, Vivian’s exuberant dark brown 24

  curls pressed against Melanie’s smooth blonde bob.

  25

  “I was going to call you,” Melanie said. “I just got back to the 26

  office.” Vivian was a true friend, one of the few she’d ever had.

  27

  They’d met at Princeton as freshman roommates and become in-28

  separable, the friendship taking root in shared southern origins.

  29

  Vivian, born and bred in Mississippi, had gone on to Yale Law 30

  School, while Melanie, a Nashville native, had opted for UVA.

  31

  It was funny how they looked alike, despite the difference in race.

  32

  Both slender, tall, with high cheekbones, large wide-set eyes. As 33

  if an artist had painted them as a study in black and white.

  34

  “So what’d Paul say?” Vivian asked once they’d settled in, 35 S

  Melanie back behind her desk, Vivian seated across.

  36 R

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  T H E A N N I V E R S A R Y

  “Paul.” Melanie looked at Vivian guiltily, Paul’s thin, sensitive 1

  face floating up through her mind. “I . . . I haven’t told him yet.”

  2

  “You haven’t told him?” Vivian stared at her. “You win a case 3

  on summary judgment for one of our biggest clients and you don’t 4

  bother to tell your fiancé?”

  5

  “It just happened this morning.” Even to her, it sounded lame.

  6

  Vivian gave her a shrewd look. “Honey, if you’ve had time to 7

  buy out most of Madison Avenue, you’ve had time to call the guy 8

  you’re planning to marry.”

  9

  “I will. Call him.”

  10

  “You wanna know what I think?”

  11

  “Do I have a choice?”

  12

  But Vivian had already started. “There’s no way you’re going to 13

  marry this guy. And the sooner you figure that out, the better for 14

  both of you. Paul’s a nice guy, Mel. Why’re you doing this to him?

  15

  If it’s because of Frank —”

  16

  “Frank? Are you crazy? I left him, remember?”

  17

  “I remember.” Vivian looked at her steadily. As if to say, I re-18

  member a lot of things. “So have you called him back?”

  19

  Melanie busied herself with the mail. A Legal Aid benefit in-20

  vitation. CLE schedules. Her corporate AmEx bill. She dumped 21

  the CLE stuff in the wastebasket — Harwich & Young had its 22

  own continuing-ed classes — and set aside the invitation and 23

  bill, starting a pile of things that would need her attention later.

  24

  “No. Of course not,” she said evenly. “Like I said, I don’t want 25

  to talk to him.”

  26

  “I think you should call him.”

  27

  Melanie stared at her. “Are you serious? You can’t stand Frank.”

  28

  “I’m not saying that you should get back together with him.

  29

  God, I’d never say that. He’s a narcissistic son of a bitch. But I 30

  don’t think you know that yet. Maybe if you saw him again, if you 31

  talked to him face-to-face, you’d get to the point where you could 32

  finally see him for what he is. Until that happens, you’re still go-33

  ing to be hung up on him. And you’ll keep stringing on these per-34

  fectly decent guys who you couldn’t care less about. Whose main S 35

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  attraction is that they aren’t Frank Collier and that you’re not in 2

  love with them.”

  3

  “That’s ridiculous. Why would I want to marry someone I’m 4

  not in love with?”

  5

  “Like I said, you don’t want to marry Paul.”

  6

  Melanie rolled her eyes, raised her hands in defeat. She was 7

  still too high off today’s victory to let Vivian get to her.

  8

  “Thank you, Dr. Freud. And now, if you don’t mind, I’ve got to 9

  get through a couple of days’ worth of mail so I can get home. I’ve 10

  gotten about four hours of sleep in the past two days.”

  11

  With Vivian out of the office, Melanie got down to work. A 12

  Princeton alumni mailing. The City Bar Association newsletter.

  13

  Draft motions from local counsel in a products liability case. She 14

  was almost halfway through when she came to an unstamped 15

  white envelope, her name typed on the front. She ripped through 16

  the flap with a letter opener, pulled out a single white sheet.

  17

  Happy Anniversary, Melanie. I haven’t forgotten you.

  18

  She stared at the words for several seconds. Even without a sig-19

  nature, she had no doubt whom it came from. But why? That was 20

  the question. Why was he doing this? She felt like an insect stuck 21

  on a pin, unable to escape. It was bad enough that he’d left that 22

  message last week when she’d told him
not to call. All she’d 23

  asked was that he leave her alone. Was it really so difficult? It cer-24

  tainly hadn’t seemed so during the years that they were married.

  25

  But trust Frank Collier to make an appearance at the worst of all 26

  possible times. Like last week, when she’d needed to focus on 27

  preparing for today’s hearing. And today, when she deserved to 28

  be happy, savoring this morning’s victory.

  29

  Happy Anniversary, Melanie. I haven’t forgotten you.

  30

  The words seemed to mock her. She hadn’t failed at many 31

  things, but her marriage had been a disaster. She sometimes felt 32

  as if all of her successes were consolation prizes, attempts some-33

  how to compensate for the love she’d never have. Then, sternly, 34

  she stopped herself, silenced the creeping self-pity. Her life was 35 S

  not unusual. Marriage, betrayal, divorce. Nothing that hadn’t been 36 R

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  T H E A N N I V E R S A R Y

  experienced by thousands of women before her. Hundreds of thou-1

  sands. Millions. Important to keep perspective. And, she reminded 2

  herself, many had it much worse. She was lucky to have a suc-3

  cessful career, more money than she could spend. And of course 4

  there was Paul Freeman, the man she planned to marry.

  5

  Paul.

  6

  She really did need to call him. Vivian was right. She also 7

  needed to ask him about that cocktail party this week. Was it to-8

  morrow or the day after? She glanced at her flip-page calendar, 9

  still turned to Tuesday’s date. Today was, what,Thursday? Right.

  10

  Thursday, April 6.

  11

  Thursday, April 6.

  12

  It was like she’d been slugged. They’d gotten married on De-13

  cember 17. Frank was more than three months late. Just when 14

  she’d thought he couldn’t hurt her more, he managed to twist the 15

  knife deeper.

  16

  Happy Anniversary.

  17

  And he couldn’t even get the date right.

  18

  She welcomed the blast of anger, how it clarified her percep-19

  tions. Pressing her lips together, she picked up the sheet of paper.

  20

  She folded it once, ripped it in half, then tore the pieces in two.

  21

  It’s over. It’s over. It’s over.

  22

  Frank Collier, you’re out of my life.

  23