Epilogue
"MonDieu Callie, look at the time." Gerard Beauvais's voice broke through the silence of the conservation lab. "You will be late!"
Callie glanced at her watch and leapt from her chair. "Oh, not again. I totally lost track of—”
She began frantically screwing on lids and putting brushes away.
"No, I will do that," Gerard said, shooing her away. "You must go."
She grabbed her coat and her backpack. On the way to the door, she was talking to Gerard over her shoulder. "About the Tintoretto. We need to—”
"We will talk of it tomorrow! Go!"
She ran for the stairs and burst out through the back entrance of the MFA. Breaking into a jog, she fumbled for her keys as she went over to a silver Volvo station wagon.
When she was speeding down Huntington Avenue, she flipped on the radio.
"With the polls just closing now, we'll have the results of this year's elections in a matter of minutes. The hotly contested governor's race, between Jack Walker and incumbent Butch Callahan—”
She turned the thing off, unable to bear the tension. Heading into town, and running a couple of yellow lights along the way, she tried to pay proper attention to the road. She didn't want to smash up the first and only car she'd ever bought for herself on a night like this.
Eight minutes later, she pulled up in front of an office building just on the edge of Chinatown. She went once around the block looking for a space and then parked the Volvo up on the curb next to a dumpster in the back, hoping she didn't get towed.
Rushing into the building, she heard the noise of an excited crowd out in the lobby and went right for a sign that read Jack Walker for Governor. She wrenched open the door under it and hit a wall of people.
The room was good-sized and filled to capacity. Down at the far end, she could just make out the stage that had been erected. On it were a huge TV set tuned to the local news and a lectern with a microphone. To one side of the platform, there was a bank of desks with people moving around furiously. She saw Gray with his jacket off and his sleeves rolled up, one ear plugged with a finger while he tried to talk on a cell phone. To his left was Cookie Sanchez, the campaign manager.
At the edge of the action, she saw Nate, Thomas, and Mrs. Walker. They were standing apart from the crowd, Thomas looking a little overwhelmed and Mrs. Walker working her gloves with nervous hands.
Nate was smiling, as if he had no doubt as to what the results were going to be.
And then she saw Jack. Her breath caught, as it still did whenever she walked into a room and put her eyes on him. Pride in everything he had done over the past year, in the way he'd presented himself, in what he believed in, in how he had stood by her side when the story about her father had come out, had her chest swelling. It had been a grueling year for him, full of traveling across Massachusetts, meeting thousands of people, refining and redefining his vision for the state. And through it all, she had his full love and support. Even five minutes before the final debate last week, he'd been holding her hand and looking into her eyes as if there was nothing else going on in his life at all.
He was looking around the room when Gray grabbed him, stared him intensely in the eye, and whispered something in his ear. Jack seemed momentarily stunned.
And then the newscaster said, "And it's just now official. Jack Walker has won the governor's seat by a small margin over—”
Callie shouted in happiness as the room exploded. People let out cries and yells of victory as everyone started hugging each other. She lost sight of Jack in the melee but could only imagine what he felt like.
He'd won. He'd really done it.
Blue-and-white balloons began to fall from the ceiling as she collapsed back against a blackboard, grinning so widely her lips hurt. Some kind of music came over the loudspeakers and then Gray and Cookie were pushing Jack up onto the stage. He seemed to be fighting them and craning his neck around as flashbulbs went off everywhere.
The moment he was in plain view, the room fell completely quiet. Everyone wanted to hear what the first words from the governor-elect were going to be.
As he stepped up to the microphone, someone yelled, "What do you say, Governor Walker!"
Jack smiled. "Has anyone seen my wife?"
There was a roar of laughter and people began looking all around.
"She's right here!" a man said next to her, pointing over Callie's head.
The crowd began to part, and just as she started for the stage, Jack leapt off the dais and strode toward her, kicking up a wake of balloons.
They met in the middle of the room and he threw his arms around her, to the crowd's booming approval.
"I couldn't have done this without you," he said fiercely, in her ear.
"I'm so proud of you. I knew you could do it. And I'm sorry I'm late. I—”
"Forgot to check your watch?" he finished indulgently.
She nodded, trying not to cry, she was so happy for him.
The people were still cheering when he pulled back and kissed her soundly on the lips.
The rest of the night went by in a frenetic blur. There was a huge party immediately following the election results, but Jack and Gray had to spend most of that time talking to the press. It was well past two in the morning by the time Callie and Jack returned to Buona Fortuna.
As they walked into the Red Room to settle in for the night, Jack shook his head.
"I guess everyone's going to have to start calling me governor, now," he said as if he was still amazed.
Callie walked up to him and his smile was the slightly lopsided one that he reserved for her.
"Well, Governor Walker, I've got another title for you." She put his hand on her belly. "How's Daddy sound?"
Jack froze and then wobbled in his wing tips. "Callie?"
"Yes." She laughed softly as he seemed to melt in front of her. Wonderment, love, joy filtered through his hard features.
When he took her face gently into his hands and dipped down for a kiss, she said, "If she's a girl, can we name her Anne?"