December 17
Rosalind didn't go into the office on Thursday. Instead, she met with David Knight, whose manuscript she'd just finished editing, to go over the additions, deletions and corrections that needed to be made. As she drove out to the author's Morris County, New Jersey, home, she wondered if Brett actually wanted her to leave New York and move to Nantucket. It was a big decision. Would she give up all that the city offered to live on an island that was predominantly a summer community?
The answer was yes. She would travel to the South Pole to be with Brett.
When Rosalind got back to the city after her meeting, she dropped the car off at the rental office and took the bus home. Again, as on the previous evening, she went directly into the living room upon entering the apartment and took the advent calendar down from the mantel. Inside the drawer marked with the number seventeen was a diamond ring. While it was only an inexpensive adjustable ring with a fake stone, the kind children bought for a quarter in gumball machines, Rosalind's heart burst with joy at the thought behind the piece of cheap jewelry.
Could Brett be thinking of getting her a real ring? An engagement ring? But he was already married. Was it possible he wanted to divorce Marilyn and marry Rosalind?
Don't go jumping to conclusions and getting your hopes up, she told herself firmly.
After all, she wouldn't be able to bear it if she allowed herself to believe that she and Brett would get married, only to have that dream fail to come true.
