Tom looked down at the creases of his black trousers. “How is he, Justin?”
“Dad? He’s living. But he’s lonely, lonely, and more lonely. By now he should have gotten over Mother, wouldn’t you think? But he hasn’t. Did you know he’s been running illegal immigrants into Palestine? Well, the last trip, the Elisse was sunk.”
“I heard he was wounded.”
“If you know, why ask?”
“Hugh keeps tabs. Is Justin’s leg mended?”
“Not properly. The bullet smashed the kneecap. But the instant he heard about Uncle Caryll, he had himself sprung from Hadassah Hospital, that’s in Jerusalem, to sail to New York. I’m stationed in New Jersey. With me in tow he’s come to offer our manly aid to the most ravishing widow in the world, I am quoting the Hearst chain.”
Tom said, “This marble’s damn cold.” He pushed to his feet. “Is that a definite no, then, on the shares, Ben?”
“Let me give it some cool-headed consideration.”
Uneven footsteps sounded in the rotunda, and they both turned.
“Ben?” Justin’s voice called.
“In here, Dad. We’re in here.”
Justin limped toward them, leaning heavily on his stick, a large, strong-looking man in a Harris tweed topcoat, his silver hair windblown around his tanned face. He met Tom and Ben at the archwav to the rotunda, and here, at the apex of the long-hailed vistas of automobiles, the three men halted awkwardly.
Justin lifted his right arm, a curious wavelike gesture that seemed an irritable dismissal yet in reality was an effort to make the first move at shaking hands. The cold hostility in his deep-set blue eyes was also misleading. Long ago he had released his confused accusations, resentments, ambivalences toward this man who was is father, and now he was experiencing that old loving admiration as well as primitive shock at temporal erosion. Tom’s an old man, he thought. Old … how is that possible? Where have the years vanished?
“So, Dad,” Ben said.
“Hello, Ben.”
“Mr. Bridger’s been telling me about a promise he made to the first Antonia Hutchinson. He’d very much like to get together win you and explain about it. For a continuation of these tripartite armistice talks, I vote we go someplace without a single Onyx.”
Tom’s eyebrow arched, but he found he lacked the strength to look at Justin, so he waited.
After an endless moment Justin said, “That sounds very good to me. What about that idea, Tom?”
“Sure,” Tom answered, shaken. A translucent film stung in his eyes.
“Let’s go, then,” Ben said, draping his arms around his father and grandfather. For a few moments the three were joined in a loose embrace, then slowly, at Justin’s pace, they circled the origina gasoline-powered vehicle, that frail dragonfly contraption, moving slowly toward the hazed, wintry light.
About the Author
Jacqueline Briskin (1927–2014) was the New York Times–bestselling author of fourteen historical novels that reflect the tumultuous changes in American society that she witnessed over her lifetime. Complete with dynamic storylines, vibrant characters, and passionate romantic relationships, her novels have sold more than twenty million copies worldwide and have been translated into twenty-six languages.
Briskin was born in London, England, the granddaughter of the chief rabbi of Dublin, Ireland. Her family moved to Beverly Hills, California, to escape Adolf Hitler and religious orthodoxy. A few years later, she married her best friend and the love of her life, Bert, whose family was deeply embedded in Hollywood and the movie business. When Briskin’s three children were little more than toddlers, she attended a class at UCLA entitled “The Craft of Fiction.” To her surprise, it was a class about writing fiction rather than reading fiction. And so her career began.
Over the next forty years, many of Briskin’s books topped the New York Times bestseller list. Her adoptive home of Los Angeles and her husband’s old stomping ground of Hollywood often play a prominent role in her meticulously researched books.
All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Excerpts from “Solidarity Forever”: © Alpha Film Music (BMI). Reprinted by permission.
Copyright © 1982 by Jacqueline Briskin
Cover design by Mimi Bark
ISBN: 978-1-4532-9379-9
This edition published in 2015 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
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