Chapter Twenty-eight

Four nights later, Vicki and Ryan walked into the San Francisco Modern Art Museum hand in hand for the fellowship awards ceremony.

"He's here." Ryan's low voice vibrated with anger.

He wasn't just her best friend and fiance, he was a Sullivan. He would always want to protect - and avenge - her, especially when it came to her first husband.

She squeezed his hand as Anthony made his way across the room straight toward them. "I'm glad he's here." And it was true. She actually appreciated this opportunity to see her ex again. It was her chance to finally put him where he belonged.

In the past.

But before her ex-husband could get to her, a beautiful woman approached her. "Are you Vicki Bennett?"

Vicki had never met the woman before, but she recognized her nonetheless. It was the woman in the picture with James. The one who had sold her soul to a sadistic devil for a million-dollar prize.

"Yes, I'm Vicki."

"I'm Kris. I worked with - " The woman faltered, paused, regrouped. " - with James. I was last year's sculpture winner. I just heard the fantastic news that he's been kicked off the fellowship board. Off all of them, actually, including the board of this museum." Before Vicki could respond, the woman said, "I don't normally do things like this," and then strong sculptor arms were coming around her in an unexpected hug. "Thank you for doing what I didn't have the strength to do."

Vicki had spent plenty of time on the phone with several of the board members during the past few days while she'd been in St. Louis watching Ryan's first round of playoff games. Again and again she'd gone over what had happened with James, but it wasn't until Anne called her with the good news about James's dismissal as she and Ryan were getting on a plane to come home that she knew for sure that they believed her.

The woman's eyes shone with unshed tears as she took a step back. "I never should have said yes to his offer to 'help' me. Everything I have now feels like it's been tainted with ugliness. I'm going to leave, go somewhere new, start over where people don't know about the mistakes I've made."

Vicki had been mulling over the Italian residency for the past few days, but any way she looked at it - and despite Ryan's obvious willingness to chuck it all in for her - she couldn't quite picture herself in Europe again. Suddenly, she knew exactly what she was going to tell the museum curator.

"I've recently heard that there is a year-long residency opportunity in Italy for a sculptor. Does that sound like something you might be interested in?"

The woman's eyes grew big. "Are you kidding? I'd jump on a plane to Italy in a heartbeat. There isn't one single thing tying me to San Francisco."

Whereas, everything in the world that mattered to Vicki was right here.

As they exchanged contact information and Vicki promised to make the call to the museum as soon as the awards ceremony was over, she finally realized she hadn't introduced the woman to Ryan.

"Kris, this is my fiance, Ryan Sullivan."

She was the first woman Vicki had ever met that didn't look like she wanted to eat him up as she said hello. It made Vicki like her even more.

After she walked away, Vicki said, "I really hope I can help make the residency work out for her."

Ryan pulled her closer. "You're amazing."

"She needs Italy. I don't."

He was bending down to kiss her when they realized Anthony was standing right in front of them.

"Looks like I finally get to meet my replacement."

There was a wide smile on her ex-husband's face as he held out his hand for Ryan to shake, one Vicki recognized as false. Anthony's sculptor's hands had drawn her in from the start, but now, as she watched the two men's hands come together, she was struck by how small and pale Anthony's were.

He leaned in to give her a kiss on each cheek, as if to indicate that there were no hard feelings. It was surprisingly easy to let him play the benevolent ex-husband when he meant so little to her now.

Especially when she knew he'd never have the power to hurt her again.

"No," she told her ex in a perfectly pleasant voice, "Ryan isn't your replacement. You were right when you said I'd never find anyone like you, Anthony."

With that, she turned her full attention to the man she loved, who loved her back every bit as much. "You're so much more to me, Ryan."

And if she couldn't help but feel a tiny little rush of pleasure at Anthony having to watch his ex-wife's big, strong, gorgeous pro-baseball-playing fiance claim her mouth in the middle of the museum floor, well, she was only human after all...

When they finally came up for air, Anthony had taken his position on the stage with the rest of the board. The stage lights were bright and nerves fairly vibrated off the walls from the dozens of artists hoping to win a fellowship position. Fellowships would be awarded tonight to one painter, one photographer, one digital artist, one clothing designer, one mixed-media artist, and one sculptor.

As they began to announce the winners one by one, Vicki's hands grew sore from clapping so hard, especially when Anne's name was called. Not only were her clothing designs brilliant, but she'd also created all of the textiles from scratch.

Anne winked at her from the stage and Vicki hugged Ryan even tighter. "I'm so glad we came tonight. I wouldn't have wanted to miss seeing her win."

Finally, they were down to Vicki's category. Anthony came forward holding a thick white envelope.

"It was a great honor to be asked to join the fellowship board this year. Some magical essence in San Francisco's salty air not only makes the sourdough bread unparalleled, but it seems to have worked the same magic on all of you. In the thirty years that I have been invited to judge similar competitions, I can honestly say that I have never seen such an impressive group of projects."

Events like this, Vicki had to admit, were where Anthony excelled. Up on stage, he was both confident in his position and generous with his compliments. And the truth was, she wouldn't have married him if he hadn't had any redeeming qualities. She didn't doubt that he'd loved her. He simply hadn't had the capacity to love her right.

"Every board member agreed that the winner's sculpture was not only risky and engaging to the senses, but also beautifully and skillfully executed. I'm extremely pleased to present this year's sculpting fellowship to Victoria Bennett!"

As ANCHOR was brought to sit on a table beside the lectern and lit with another spotlight, Ryan leaned over and whispered, "Just like I've always known. You're brilliant."

She hadn't prepared for this moment, hadn't thought there was any chance of her winning the fellowship with James and Anthony voting. She probably would have stood there with her mouth hanging open in surprise if Ryan hadn't put his hands on her waist and said, "Go be a superstar. It's your turn this time," before giving her a gentle nudge toward the stage.

The applause turned deafening as she made her way up to the stage. She'd searched for validation for so long that even though she no longer needed it because she'd finally learned to believe in herself, she let it feel good anyway.

Really good.

Vicki took the envelope and the pretty little statue from Anthony. She'd never been particularly comfortable speaking in front of groups of people, but tonight, with Ryan - and the friends she'd made - cheering her on, she felt steadier than she ever had before.

"I thought I knew exactly why I got on the plane in Prague to come to San Francisco. I wanted to win the fellowship, of course, but it was more than that. I believed I needed it."

She looked down at the trophy and envelope in her hands for a long moment before gazing back out into the crowd of important curators and collectors and fellow artists, all the people she'd been so hoping to impress tonight.

"But I was wrong."

She turned to look back at Anne, who was standing behind her on the stage. "Coming to San Francisco was about making good friends." She looked out into the audience at Ryan. "It was about going back into the past to find new love." He blew her a kiss she swore she could feel land on her cheek. "And it was about finding out what I'm capable of." She ran her hand over ANCHOR. "I'm proud of the work that I've done here. Really proud."

She smiled at each of the board members, wanting to acknowledge their recent support. "Thank you very much for choosing me this year, but I'm afraid I won't be able to accept the fellowship."

As she turned and handed her trophy and envelope to Anthony, then picked up her sculpture, it occurred to her that the last time she'd seen him look that surprised, she was telling him she was leaving him.

She knew accepting the fellowship would be good for her career, but from here on out, she wanted her sculpting career to reflect passion and joy, not be a reminder of the darkness into which James had tried to pull her.

Vicki had faith that other opportunities would come her way. And until then...

She walked into Ryan's open arms, her winning sculpture cradled between them. He grinned down at her. "Can I drive you home?"

The years immediately disappeared until it was just the two of them again, a girl and a boy who had become friends in an instant...and who would end up sharing the rest of their lives together.

"Sure," she said, "if you don't have anywhere else you have to be."

He put his arm around her shoulder and walked beside her. "Nothing more important than hanging out with my best friend."

They were halfway across the room when she felt her phone buzz in her purse. She handed her sculpture to Ryan so that she could pull it out of her bag. She was surprised by the name on the screen.

"Smith is calling me. Do you have any idea why?"

Ryan shook his head. "Nope. He hasn't said anything to me."

She picked up. "Hi, Smith. If you need Ryan, he's right here."

"You're the one I'm looking for, Vicki, and I'm really glad I got you. Any chance you could drop by the set first thing tomorrow morning? I've got the set designer coming in and we both need to sit down with you to discuss the pieces we'll need for the movie."

She'd felt perfectly calm while dealing with Anthony and turning down the fellowship. Only now did she feel like her head was spinning and her fingertips were buzzing.

She recognized that feeling.

Inspiration.

"I'd love to meet with both of you, Smith. Thanks for the opportunity."

"I'm the one that should be thanking you for agreeing to jump into the deep end so fast. I'll text you the details for the meeting. Bring a piece that represents your style, okay?"

She looked at her sculpture in Ryan's arms. "I've got just the one. See you tomorrow morning."

"I'm going to work with Smith and his set designer on his new film. You didn't have anything to do with that, did you?"

"Trust me," Ryan said as she slid her phone back into her purse and he handed ANCHOR back to her. "Smith takes his movies way too seriously to do anyone a favor. He wants you on his movie because you're the best."

She was about to press a kiss to his lips when a gray-haired man stepped in front of her. "Ms. Bennett, I'd like to introduce myself. I'm the curator for the Marina Gallery in Sausalito. We're very interested in your work."

And with that, Ryan stood proudly beside Vicki while she finally had her day in the sun.