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“You too.” She was already walking around the desk and reaching for the letter opener. Her divorce had long since been settled with Peter. Last she heard, he was still living in the house in Larchmont and seeing a thirty-one-year-old teacher. Besides, she didn’t recognize the name of the law firm on theenvelope.
She slid the letter opener under the envelope’s flap and reached inside to withdraw a thick stack of papers. She looked at the letter on top, stamped with the law firm’s logo and addressed toher.
Dear Miss Fontaine,
Please be advised that this letter is to inform you of the recent passing of JudithChambers.
Nina’s handflew to hermouth.
Mrs. Chambers has allocatedto you in her will (see attached) a series of photographs, along with correspondence, which we have included for your review. These photographs are in possession of the estate and will be transferred to you immediately upon acceptance. Please contact us at your earliest convenience to arrange fordelivery.
Mrs. Chambers was a valued client of this firm and a treasured friend. We can only assume you share our sentiments for Mrs. Chambers, a private and discerning woman, to have left you such personally valuable items. Please accept our deepestsympathies.
Sincerely,
Abe Goldstein,Esquire
Tears streameddown Nina’s face as she finished reading the letter. She thought of the calls she’d made to Judith that had gone unanswered. Had she been sick or had her death been sudden? Should Nina have contacted someone in Judith’s building when she couldn’t reachher?
She hadn’t known Judith long, but she’d figured large in Nina’s life since their first meeting in the park. She’d felt Judith’s strength over the past couple of weeks as she’d grieved her relationship with Jack, had drawn on the wisdom Judith had dispensed likepearls.
She set the cover letter aside. A copy of the will lay under it, an envelope with her name scrawled on its front attached with a paper clip. She used the letter opener to openit.
Dearest Nina,
My but you’vebeen a wonderful friend these past weeks! I would say it was a generous case of chance, but you know I don’t believe in chance. Let’s call it serendipity instead. We were meant to be greatfriends.
I’ve decidedyou were right after all. The women of our shared city deserve to see themselves as I see them, and so do you. I’ve left the pictures to you. Do with them as you see fit. I ask only that you not price them overly high. They were never meant to make anyone a mint. I’d rather they have goodhomes.
I’ve leftyou something else as well. What you do with that is also up toyou.
Don’t mourn my passing.My life has been marvelous. It’s been exciting and terrifying and beautiful and sometimes downright horrendous! Most of all, it’s been interesting. What more could anyone ask of alife?
Isee so muchof myself in you, my dear. You think you’re lost, but you are exactly where you’re meant to be, just as I was where I was meant to be inCalifornia.
Stop looking.You’re already home, my dear, and so amI.
Judith
Nina loweredher head to her hands and gave in to the sob clawing its way out of her throat. By the time she looked up, the August light was waning on the other side of thewindow.
She pulled a couple tissues out of the box on the desk, wiped her eyes, and blew her nose. Then she turned her attention to the package that had been delivered with the letter from the attorney, the letter to Nina, and thewill.
She used scissors to cut the tape holding the box closed and opened theflaps.
The first thing she saw was the photograph. The woman in the photo was wearing a navy coat and sitting on a bench in the park, her dark hair spilling around her shoulders. But unlike Judith’s other pictures, this one had been taken from the side, the woman’s face slightly visible as she gazed at something beyond the lens’ view. Her expression was pensive, the slightest of smiles playing at her lips, like she had a secret no one elseknew.
It wasNina.
She looked more closely at the picture, trying to figure out when it had been taken. The coat was a trench, worn during early summer evenings just before the weather had become reliably warm. Beyond Nina on the bench, the trees were beginning to bloom with the bright green that was unique tospring.
She’d worn the trench coat during one of her early meetings with Judith in the park. Had Judith snapped the photo as she’d approached Nina on their favoritebench?
Something took flight in her chest as she looked at the picture. She remembered her conversation with Judith the first time they’d talked about thephotographs.
I think you see women as they wish they could be seen. The way they should seethemselves.
And how is that,dear?
