Juliet stood alone in the green room, gazing in the mirror. The reflection looking back was still that of the educated, accomplished young woman she’d been nearly two years ago. But now her eyes held a certain wisdom she’d lacked before. The respect she’d earned since being hired at Larimar Springs had been hard won.
A slight rap at the door pulled her attention. “Yes, come in.”
A perky young news intern peeked her head through the cracked opening. “Dr. Ryan? We’re ready for you.”
She took one final glance in the mirror. Her coral and turquoise jacket was perfect. Her lip color and hair, great. She was ready.
She followed the intern down a long hallway lined with photos—among them Matt Lauer, Katie Couric, Jane Pauley, and Al Roker. Despite fighting to appear calm, her insides fluttered. Especially when they arrived at a set of heavy double doors.
The intern turned and put her finger to her mouth, warning her to be quiet. She pointed to the red light flashing to the right of the door and shook her head, just in case her first signal to stay silent had been missed.
The doors opened to a massive interior with rivers of wires running over the floor. Men with headphones sat in tall, swiveling stools, perched next to cameras hanging from the ceiling, all directed at a brightly lit backdrop known as Studio 1A.
Natalie Morales smiled at Matt Lauer from behind the iconic anchor desk perched in front of windows looking over Rockefeller Plaza. “Matt, we have an interesting story coming up about a woman who exposed a company conspiracy—one that cost lives. Even those of several tiny children. She’s authored a book about that experience and the extreme need for food safety in our country, and will be joining us to talk about it.”
Matt raised his eyebrows. “Sounds like something viewers won’t want to miss.”
Juliet stood trembling, barely believing the famous morning news show hosts were talking about her in front of millions of viewers across America. For a flash second, she couldn’t help but smile, oddly wondering if Ellen Shaffer was watching.
And Stinky Sam.
She followed the intern to an adjoining set with comfortable sofas and a coffee table. She positioned herself in her designated seat while another guy with headphones clipped on a microphone. “Testing, testing,” he said.
Never in her wildest imagination would she have dreamed this is how her story would turn out. After a brief commercial break, she’d be reporting how she and her father had handed the evidence Oliver Ford provided over to Dr. Breslin, which led to criminal charges being brought against Alexa Carmichael and Greer Latham. How they’d pled guilty to avoid extended sentencing.
She’d tell America how Montavan International took control of Larimar Springs in the aftermath, and with her at the helm, they’d raised the bar in food safety. How she’d written Up the Waterspout and now traveled internationally speaking at food safety symposiums, warning about the dangers of foodborne illnesses and the destruction and havoc that could result from cutting corners.
Photos of the new Marquis DeAndre Mosely Center for Children would be shown, built next to the expanded New Beginnings Birthing Center in San Antonio. She’d pay tribute to her mother and to the new director of both institutions, Tavina Mosely Jinks, who had married Leo Paternoster’s paralegal. Pictures would flash on-screen of a very pregnant Tavina, locked in her new husband’s arms, beaming.
Juliet’s hand drifted to her own swollen belly. On camera, she’d smile across the studio at her husband, Cyril, a man of extraordinary integrity.
Her mother would be watching from heaven . . . pleased.
Lastly, and maybe most importantly, Juliet would look Matt Lauer in the eyes and express deep gratitude to the man who had stood by her side, a man she greatly admired and loved. The one who had taught her that without a heart and soul, she had nothing.
Her father.