Found Money - James Grippando [146]
She stepped forward, smiling widely.
“Way to go, Mommy!”
Taylor was on her feet, standing on her seat cushion in the tiered seating section. Maria’s husband was seated right beside her, trying to get her down, but she was too proud to be controlled.
Amy gave a wink from afar, then shook hands with the dean, who presented her diploma. The traditional doctoral hood went over her shoulders. The tassel flipped as she crossed to the other side. She’d made it. She and Taylor, alone, had made it. Though not without a few bumps in the road.
Amy had told no one about her grandmother. She’d decided she never would. Her mother’s death would forever be a suicide. Officially. Amy’s silence was as much about mercy as it was about moving on with her own life. A sensational trial with Amy as witness against her own grandmother was no way to find closure. It seemed like punishment enough for Gram to know that Amy had uncovered the truth.
Over the following ten months, Amy had built a new life. Leaving the law firm had been easy. Forgiving Marilyn Gaslow had not been so easy. A brave night at Cheesman Dam couldn’t overcome twenty years of deceit. After Marilyn had withdrawn her name from consideration for the Federal Reserve appointment, the two of them had simply seemed to pull away from each other.
The hardest part had been trying to explain to Taylor why they couldn’t live with Gram anymore. The return to astronomy had helped the transition. She and Taylor had moved closer to the Meyer-Womble Observatory on Mt. Evans, where Amy could complete her doctoral research. Gram stayed behind in Boulder. They hadn’t spoken since that night last summer, though her grandmother did write once. The letter was returned unopened. In her own controlling way, she undoubtedly hoped Amy would move back to Boulder after graduation. Amy wouldn’t. Not ever. At least not as long as Gram was alive.
After the ceremony, the graduates gathered outside the stadium with their families. Amy filed out with Maria and waited for Taylor and Maria’s husband. All around her, loving couples were locked in hugs and congratulatory kisses. Amy tried to hide the funny look on her face, but her tell-all expressions were not to be contained. Maria gave her an awkward hug that, in this setting, seemed a bit like a consolation prize.
Taylor came running through the crowd, brightening Amy’s face. “Can I wear your funny hat, Mommy?”
“You betcha,” she said as she lifted her from the sidewalk. She put her down and pulled the cap over her eyes. Just then, someone caught her eye through the crowd. He was standing near the stadium exit. Amy’s smile faded. It was Ryan Duffy.
“It’s too big!” shouted Taylor.
Amy was still looking at Ryan. He took a tentative step forward, then stopped.
“Maria, could you watch Taylor for a second?”
“Sure.” She knelt on one knee and adjusted Taylor’s mortarboard.
Amy weaved her way through the noisy crowd. Ryan slowly came forward, as if to meet her halfway. They had parted on decent terms last summer. The fact that Ryan’s father was no rapist had taken away the bitterness. Amy had thought about him from time to time over the past eleven months, during many a lonely night at the observatory on Mt. Evans. Neither one had called the other, however. Circumstances had pushed them so far apart, only a lunatic would have picked up the phone. Or so she had thought.
Amy stopped right before him. “What brings you here?”
He gave a half-smile. “I felt like we had some unfinished business.”
“Really?”
He rocked on his heels, as if he had something to say and wasn’t quite sure how to say it. “It’s been a strange year for me.”
“Me too.”
“Not all bad. I’m a new uncle. My sister Sarah had a little girl. Fortunately she doesn’t seem to be taking after her mother or her father. That’s a good thing.”
“Congratulations.”
“Yeah. It’s nice.”
“Somehow, I get the feeling you didn’t come all this way just to tell me that.”
“You’re right.” He looked away, then back, as if words were difficult. “I’ve been meaning to talk to you. I was just waiting for the divorce