“Dickie Shuster?” she repeated when Luke mentioned his name. “I think I met him. He was an odd little man. Strange clothes.”
“That’s him,” Luke confirmed.
Marianne groaned and plopped down onto a nearby barrel. “This will kill my mother if it ever gets out. How can I stop him?”
Luke hunkered down beside her and took her hand. “Dickie has known forever,” he said. “He tends to sit on information and will only use it if he thinks he can milk it for something big. In this case, I don’t think he will. Dickie likes your father and would rather keep him as an ally.”
“How do you know this?”
“Because I keep my ear to the ground. Dickie and I are a lot alike that way. This city is full of powerful congressmen, but there are people behind the scenes who can move the chess pieces without sitting in elected office. Dickie is one of those people.”
“You are too.”
He kissed the back of her hand, then flashed her a little wink. “That would be bragging.” Emotions whirled inside as he struggled to define them. “I feel like I’m at a turning point in my life. I was drawn to you the moment we met on the ice. You’re smart and pretty enough to tempt a monk, and I’m no monk. Marianne, I can’t walk away from you again. I want to marry you someday. If you don’t want that too, tell me now.”
She gazed back at him, hope mingled with fear in her face. “I can’t.”
He swept her into his arms, knowing he should be daunted by the challenges ahead of them but only caring about the here and now. They loved each other and would find a way forward, no matter what.
Twenty-One
The next month was the most exhilarating of Marianne’s life, mostly because of her clandestine meetings with Luke. She no longer felt guilty about meeting him. The icy time last February when her father put his foot down felt so long ago. Besides, respect for her family’s position regarding the Delacroixs had plummeted ever since she saw those files. The Delacroixs didn’t file false insurance claims, look the other way when a dog was killed, or hide inconvenient scientific studies.
Her life was busier than ever because the McMillan Plan was gathering steam. The proposed park in the middle of the city meant each building slated for demolition needed to be photographed inside and out. The reclaimed space would be filled with acres of open lawn where tourists could exhaust themselves walking hither and yon, more than two miles of parkland in all.
Luke passionately endorsed the McMillan Plan, but Marianne mourned the loss of the buildings and the arboretum. Luke accompanied her every day as she created photographic memories of the buildings that would be torn down. Although they got along like a house on fire, they argued incessantly about the coming National Mall.
“We will finally be able to appreciate the grandeur of the city,” Luke enthused. “We can’t do that withthisstanding in the way.”
He gestured to the Redwood Tree House, a charmingly ridiculous exhibit that had once been on display at the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago. It was an actual redwood tree that had been imported from California. After the World’s Fair, it had been moved to a permanent home outside the Department of Agriculture. It had a twenty-six-foot circumference, large enough to have been hollowed out to accommodate a staircase inside that led to a viewing platform at the top.
Her task today was to photograph it. The rough texture of the bark made for an interesting image, especially since she included Luke in the picture. She regularly asked him to be in her photographs, but at least today she had a good excuse. How could one appreciate the size of a redwood unless a person stood next to it for scale?
“Stand there and quit making fun of me,” she said as she unscrewed the cap of her viewfinder.
“Are you going to get weepy over this old redwood?” Luke teased.
“I’m getting weepy over everything that’s going to be torn down to make way for your fancy park.”
He held still while she took the photograph, then dove straight back into his arguments. “Sometimes you have to clear away the old to make way for the new and improved. Come on, let’s climb this thing.”
It was musty inside the tree trunk as they climbed to the viewing platform at the top. With the summer breeze on her face and the fully leafed trees in the arboretum below, it almost felt like they were at the top of a primeval world. Luke braced his arms on the railing as he gazed toward the Washington Monument, one of the few structures tall enough to be seen over the thickly wooded trees. Even the spires of the Smithsonian castlecould barely be seen because the ugly blot of the Washington Gas Works obscured most of the view. The Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station also sat in the middle of the proposed National Mall.
“Someday we will be able to see for two full miles,” he said. “The mall will be like a smooth carpet of grass stretching from monument to monument.”
She shook her head and pointed to the Gothic splendor of the B&P Railroad Station. “That is the most beautiful building in the entire city, and it’s only thirty years old. You want us to tear it down?”
“Wemusttear it down. Marianne, just imagine! On one end of the park we’ll have the Capitol, where our nation’s laws are being created as we speak. At the other end will be memorials to our greatest heroes. This mall will be a hymn to the nation, built of granite and grass. This is theonlyplace in the entire country for such a park. Go build your piddly railroad station somewhere else,” he said with a wink.
When he spoke so passionately, she could almost see his vision. It would take decades and cost a fortune, but it would be appreciated by generations of people long into the future. Someday soon all this would be swept away. Even the grand old redwood tree in which they stood would be torn down, and people would forget it had ever been here.
“It’s still sad to see it all go,” she said.
“Change is always a little sad, but exciting too, don’t you think?” Before she could answer, he reached for her camera. “Let me take your picture. At this exact moment you are the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen, and I want to remember you this way forever.”
“Because I’ll be old and grizzled someday?”
“You certainly shall, but not today,” he said, looking down through the viewfinder. She instinctively knew how to stand against the railing and tilt her chin for the best angle.
