Lyssa was deeply touched by Gideon’s words. He’d never wanted to be the money man, asking people to step up. Yet here he was, doing just that. Because it mattered.
Nestled close to Cal, she murmured, “I really think he’s healing.”
Cal pulled her in, his wonderful hug saying so much.
Beside her, Rosie was smiling, one of the most beautiful, loving smiles she’d ever seen. It was how Lyssa herself looked at Cal, because it was exactly how she felt.
In the spotlight, Gideon said, “It’s my honor to introduce to you a very special woman.” He held out a hand, and an elegantly dressed woman in her sixties walked to him across the dance floor. “Please give a round of applause for Karmen’s mother, Ernestina Sanchez, without whom none of this would be possible.”
She stepped onto the dais, where Gideon kissed her cheek, said a few words to her, then returned to Rosie’s side.
Mrs. Sanchez adjusted the microphone, then looked up at the crowd. “It started with a painting my mother loved. She taught my daughter to love this painting as much as she did, taught her to appreciate its magic. Because it is magic.”
The back wall lit up with an image of the Miguel Fernando Correa painting. Two angels, light and dark, touching fingertips in solidarity. The room reverberated with oohs and aahs of appreciation.
“When my beloved Karmen gave that painting to Gideon Jones, she knew its destiny would one day lead to this.” Her eloquent voice carried across the ballroom as she waved a hand over the crowd. “Karmen saw the goodness that would come. And I am so honored—” She put her hand to her chest. “—that the Lean on Us Foundation will forever carry on her memory. She worked fearlessly and tirelessly for the greater good. She lost her cousin in the Twin Towers, and all she ever wanted to do was serve her country, to help make a better world, to save lives.” She looked directly at Dane Harrington. “It’s wonderful knowing that the person with whom the painting now resides will use its power to do even more good. Thank you all.”
The balloons on the ceiling drifted on the waves of cheers and clapping as Ernestina Sanchez stepped down.
Gideon hugged Mrs. Sanchez as they passed, and he returned to the lectern. “Thank you, Ernestina.” He gave her a fond gaze. “We appreciate everything you’ve done for us.” Then he turned to the sea of faces before him. “Ralph Esterhausen was a soldier. He always did more than his duty, always worked above one hundred and ten percent. He was my friend, my confidant, my brother. I mourn him to this day. As I mourn Johnny Danzi and Hank Garrett and Karmen Sanchez. I mourn these comrades who fell on the same day in the same godforsaken desert. With us tonight is a family that Lean on Us is all about. Ralph Esterhausen’s family. We can never replace their loss, never understand their pain, but they can lean on us when they have no one else.”
Rosie, Ari, and Lyssa reached into their bags for tissues. Cal soothed Lyssa with a caress down her arm.
Gideon went on. “Crystal Esterhausen and her sons are with us tonight. And she would like to say a few words.”
He held out his hand. Mrs. Esterhausen’s dress hung on her frame as if the years and the grief had stripped her down to the bone. Two teenagers trailed her, the eldest close to college age, both dressed in new suits, their hair combed back.
She stepped gingerly onto the dais, her sons only a couple of steps behind her as she stood at the lectern. “I miss my husband.” Her voice was raspy with emotion. “My boys miss their father. We always will. It hasn’t been easy, and sometimes I wish I hadn’t—” She stopped, breathed in, let it out, her nostrils flaring. “There are people I wish I hadn’t blamed,” she rushed the words. “I think if I’d had a place to go like Gideon Jones’s foundation, maybe I wouldn’t have acted the way I did.” She reached into her dress pocket for a lace-trimmed handkerchief, and the rest of the audience dabbed their eyes too. “My boys have scholarships. Now I can see their future when, for a long time, I couldn’t.” She paused again before adding, “I want to say thank you for letting me lean on you.”
She turned quickly, and together she and her sons walked out of the limelight.
The applause was thunderous, and as it died down, Cal leaned close to Lyssa’s ear. “Gideon helped her get some counseling. I think she did it for her kids, but it seems to have made a world of difference.”
Lyssa knew that Mrs. Esterhausen’s forgiving words must be another major healing for Gideon.