Epilogue
If only William were alive to see Willard Hall. Helen had heard years ago that the half-finished ruin on campus would be called
Legare Hall, but that wasn’t what was on the engraved invitation she received for the grand opening. And sure enough, the
proud Willard name gleamed on the facade outside.
Helen had dressed up for the occasion in her best blue dress, the one she’d worn for the last anniversary dinner before her
husband died ten years ago. It had hung in the closet ever since, and she’d even caught a whiff of his Lagerfeld cologne when
she slipped it over her head.
The new air-conditioning kept the humid August afternoon at bay, but Helen had still found herself nodding off in her chair
during the grand opening speeches. She couldn’t hear well, and most of them weren’t worth listening to anyway. A lot of blathering
on and back-patting from people who had nothing to do with this. Only one person had the right to crow about it, and Helen
hadn’t talked to her yet.
Her sensible pumps clattered on the mahogany floors as she wandered Willard Hall.
She stopped in the office and stared at the portrait of Joseph Willard, patriarch of the family, with the same nose that many of his descendants had inherited, including Helen herself.
She hadn’t even had to change her name when she and William married, joining two of Joseph’s distant lines.
The ornate desk below the portrait had come from her bungalow and had been beautifully restored. An open photo album lay on
its surface, and she flipped with pride through the pictures of the excavation of the Willard Treasure. The place did proper
homage to her family and their contribution to the university.
The scent of coffee and appetizers drew her back to the massive rotunda, where she snagged a crawfish egg roll on a minuscule
plate along with a glass of wine. She spotted the woman she’d been watching for. Savannah Webster walked her way with her
hand on her husband’s arm. Her auburn hair was a little shorter since Helen saw her at the wedding last year. Hez’s expression
of pride was no doubt due to that baby bump under Savannah’s tan sheath dress.
Savannah stopped in front of Helen. “Miz Willard, I’m so glad you could come.” She swept her hand around the massive rotunda.
“What do you think?”
“I love it all. This hall, the Winona Willard Neonatology Center you’re building, everything. I never thought I’d say this
to a Legare, but my thanks for what you’ve done here. Justice has finally come for the Willards, something I thought was a
pipe dream.”
Savannah’s green eyes softened. “There’s no need to thank me—it was the right thing to do, and I’m honored I got to be part
of it.”
“The right thing isn’t always the easy thing, girlie, as I’ve seen in my family. You could have used that money for other needs here and no one would have known.”
“I would have known.”
The right thing to do wasn’t easy for Helen either, and she took a sip of courage from her wineglass. “Some of my family hurt
you both, and I’m sorry for that. I hear the two of you are visiting Deke at the prison in Jefferson.” She’d winced when she’d
heard he was assigned to a maximum-security prison, but the boy had made his own bed.
Savannah’s smile faltered, and she glanced at Hez, who took her hand. “Deke asked us for forgiveness once, and we weren’t
ready to talk about it with him. Until now.”
“Whoo-ee, that’s a lot of forgiving. Can you even do it?”
“It will be a journey. Your family has a lot of forgiving to do too.”
Helen put her plate and wineglass down on a nearby window ledge. “I’d be proud to have you as a travel companion on that journey.”
She held out her arms, and Savannah enveloped her in a hug that nearly swallowed her whole. Helen didn’t mind having a strong
woman like Savannah lead the way into unknown territory.