10
[Note to my readers: This chapter introduces characters from the 1989 novel by MHC called 'While My Pretty One Sleeps'. I have treated the time lapse as actual years that might have occurred between the events in 'While My Pretty One Sleeps' and 'You Belong to Me'. (In other words, 12 years have elapsed since the events in While My Pretty One Sleeps.)]
An hour later, Susan heard the front door slam again, followed by shuffling noises which she attributed to Don removing his boots and layers of winter wear. He soon appeared at the study door.
His hair sticking out at odd angles after pulling off his hat, Don said: "I don't know how much jogging we're going to be able to do tomorrow unless they do a good job clearing the paths."
"Maybe I should whip out my cross-country skis instead of my sneakers," Susan remarked.
"There is a lot of snow out there," Don said with emphasis.
"Well, J.C. and Neeve are troopers," Susan said, "they'll jog in anything."
Susan was referring to Jack Campbell and Neeve Kearny, a married couple they were very friendly with. Jack was the president of Givvons & Marks, the publishing house that had released Don's Vanishing Women.
The first Christmas Don and Susan had been married, they'd been invited to a function hosted by Givvons & Marks at the Four Seasons. Vanishing Women had remained a favourite in the True Crime section of many bookstores, and was about to enter its second printing. At the function they'd met Jack and Neeve, and Jack had congratulated Don on the success of his book.
"So when are you going to write me a sequel?" he'd asked. Don had smiled and replied that his reasons for writing Vanishing Women had been satisfied, and that a part two wasn't necessary.
Realising that Susan was the same 'Dr. Susan' from the Ask Dr. Susan show, Jack had jokingly said: "Have you ever thought of writing a book about your experiences with Alexander Wright? I'm sure it would be a New York Times best-seller. People love true crimes."
"Thanks, but no thanks," Susan had said. "The last thing I need now is to have my life as an open book, especially after that trial. I was actually approached by some second-rate cable channel about a 'movie-of-the-week' deal."
"What happened?" Jack had asked.
"I turned them down, obviously," Susan had replied. "They were thinking of casting someone ten years my senior to play me, and she wasn't even blonde."
"And nowhere nearly as attractive, I might add," Don had interjected.
"Besides, those cable stations tend to add such tremendously ridiculous things for 'dramatic purposes'." Susan finished.
"So no 'Dr. Susan Chandler Story', huh?"
"Not in a million years."
The couples eventually got a table together for the rest of the evening.
Further comparing notes with Neeve, who was seated opposite her, Susan remarked that she, too, had almost married someone named 'Jack'.
"What happened?" Neeve had asked.
"He married my sister instead…but he passed away about five years ago. He got caught in an avalanche while he was skiing with four others."
Both Jack and Neeve expressed their sympathies, but Susan assured them it was okay. Neeve's eyes had lit up suddenly, and she exclaimed, "Oh, that's where I know you from, Susan, the ski hill! You do ski, don't you?"
"Well, I did. I haven't in a while," Susan had responded.
"I knew you looked familiar, but I just wasn't able to place your face until just now. It must have been '87 or '88, I think," Neeve had continued, "Vail. I was there with my friend Julie. I remember you now, because you said you were attending law school. We shared a lodge for a week or so."
"That's right," said Susan. "I remember. I thought to myself that you looked familiar too, but skiing isn't what comes to my mind…something more recent…do you by chance go to St. Pat's?"
"Ten-fifteen Mass?" Neeve had asked.
"Yes! That's it," Susan had smiled. "I take it those two gorgeous kids that accompany you are yours?"
"Yes," Neeve had smiled back. "Renata and Jack Jr. … J.C.'s not Catholic, so we let him sleep in on Sundays."
"I know how that is," Susan had responded. "Don's not Catholic either, but I love him anyway. No kids for us yet, though."
Don and Susan fell in easily with calling Jack 'J.C.' when they were informed by Neeve that a certain colleague at Givvons & Marks had so dubbed him soon after he was named president.
"Everyone calls him that now," Neeve stated with a grin, "though secretly I think he hates it!"
Susan had been impressed to learn that Neeve was the owner of 'Neeve's Place', still a very trendy and fashionable boutique after nearly 20 years on Madison Ave. and 84th Street. Guessing that Neeve was probably quite knowledgeable regarding the fashion industry, Susan said: "Perhaps you've heard of my sister, Deedra Chandler? Everyone calls her 'Dee', but professionally she was Deedra."
"Oh, sure, I've heard of her," Neeve had responded. "She was modelling Donna Karan a while back, right? I imagine she's long since retired from the runway, though,"
"Yes, more than a decade now," Susan affirmed.
"She's the one that married your Jack?"
"She's the one. But I think we're starting to really re-connect now that she's back in New York. She'd been out in California – she had this modelling agency out there for a while. I'm actually starting to get to know her again."
"Good for you. Sometimes it can be lonely being an only child," Neeve had commented. "There were times growing up when I wished I'd had a sibling or two." Susan thought she noticed a wistful sound in Neeve's voice.
The couples had talked for hours that night, enjoying each other's company immensely, and almost failed to notice when the party finally died down and other guests left. After that they had become fast friends. Neeve and Susan would often meet at the ten-fifteen Mass at the Cathedral, join their husbands afterwards for a jog, and conclude somewhere for lunch. Most recently, J.C. and Neeve had been among the guests at Don's birthday party, and were sure to be in attendance at Susan's upcoming 36th birthday, which fell just after Thanksgiving this year.
"When I meet up with Neeve tomorrow at church I'll see if our usual routine still holds," Susan informed Don.
"You could just call her," suggested Don.
Susan shook her head. "They're in Jersey, visiting Neeve's brother, Mike – the one that moved back to the 'States a little while ago. Well, he's actually her step- brother. The kids are going to stay for the rest of the weekend with their cousins while she and J.C. drive back tonight. I don't happen to have Mike's number."
"Oh." Don responded. "That's the 'Mike' with the Japanese wife, right?"
"That's right," Susan affirmed, "her name's 'Kami'. Neeve said they have three kids – two girls and a boy."
"Three, huh?" Don said walking to her with a smile as he placed his hands on her shoulders, "is that how many you'd like to have?"
"For starters," she responded, turning to face him, mirroring his smile. "But I'd be happy if we could just pull one off."
"So would I," Don murmured, and turned to leave, suddenly reflecting on something he realised he had never told Susan. The day his first wife Kathy had drowned, she'd been feeling queasy, and afterwards, Don felt quite certain she had been feeling ill because she was pregnant. Some things just aren't meant to be, he thought sadly, but I want these things to be for me and Susan.