Gabriel's Promise (Gabriel's Inferno 4)

Gabriel and the officials gathered on the raised platform. Julia recognized most of the dignitaries from the reception the evening before.

Having just survived a brief challenge from Professor Wodehouse, who by all accounts was intimidating, Julia’s heart beat quickly. She was reminded of how, more than three years ago, she sat in Gabriel’s seminar at the University of Toronto—a young, grass-green graduate student who’d hidden a secret love for her professor in her heart. How far they’d come.

She had survived Toronto and their separation. She had survived Christa Peterson and Paulina Gruscheva. Despite her inherent shyness, she’d won a place at Harvard. All that remained was for her to complete her program and then she, like Gabriel, would have the academic freedom to study and write what she pleased.

Professor Emerson looked very handsome, dressed in his Harvard crimson over a gray suit. His pale blue shirt and darker blue tie made his sapphire eyes seem bluer.

She’d wanted to match his gray suit, but she’d succumbed to his last-minute plea to wear something brighter.

“I need to be able to find you,” Gabriel had pleaded over breakfast. The sound of his voice was strangely vulnerable.

Julia could not refuse. Vulnerability was something he shunned like mediocrity. Yet he could be vulnerable with her, privately. She treasured and protected those moments.

So she eschewed the gray dress she’d wanted to wear and replaced it with a sleeveless kelly green dress. The dress was modest and fell to her knees, but the color was daring and the wide neck exposed her collarbones.

Gabriel had predicted that most of the audience would be clad in dark colors. He was correct. In a sea of black, navy, and dark tweed, her green dress made her highly visible, which was precisely what he’d wanted.

And she was wearing a pair of red-soled stiletto heels. Somehow her right leg had felt better that morning and so she thought she’d chance it. She hoped Gabriel would appreciate her choice.

When his eyes finally found hers, he stood very still. The principal of the university was speaking in his ear, but Gabriel’s attention was fixed on his wife. His lips curved up into a half-smile and he gave her an intense, branding look before turning his attention back to the principal.

Now Julia could draw breath. Gabriel had arrived and he had found her. She’d never been more eager to be found.

Julia wondered how Clare was adjusting to an afternoon with Rebecca at the hotel. The past two days had been the Emersons’ first excursions without the baby and Julia felt curiously bereft. In order to resist the urge to text Rebecca, she focused on her dress, noticing the way the material gave off a subtle sheen under the lights. Then she patted her hair. She’d worn it in a French twist, pinned at the back of her head.

“When Gabriel delivers the Sage Lectures, he’ll be in McEwan Hall, which is much larger.” Graham leaned closer from his seat.

She glanced around the room. “How much larger?”

“This room only seats two hundred fifty people. McEwan Hall seats a thousand.”

Julia gulped. She hadn’t really grasped the pomp surrounding the Sage Lectures, although she had been impressed by the warm and generous hospitality of the university. Graham had been very kind, as had his colleagues. It seemed to be a wonderful community.

The head of the School of Literatures, Languages, and Cultures made a few opening remarks and introduced the director of the Research Office, who spent a great deal of time highlighting the excellent research profile of the university before describing the importance of the Sage Lectures in the field of the humanities.

Julia noticed that Gabriel’s body language never changed, even when the principal was introduced and he began cataloguing Gabriel’s long list of accomplishments. Gabriel’s piercing blue eyes moved in an unhurried fashion from the principal to Katherine Picton, with whom he exchanged a warm smile, and back again.

He caught Julia’s eye and winked. Julia winked back, feeling warm all over.

She surveyed the audience, noting the presence of what looked like undergraduate and graduate students, as well as faculty members and other members of staff. That was when it struck her.

Gabriel didn’t have graduate students. Yes, Boston University had hoped he’d be able to attract them, but since Italian studies didn’t have a graduate program, students interested in studying Dante at the master’s or doctoral level had to enroll in the Department of Religion, in which Gabriel was cross-appointed. But a doctorate in religion wasn’t what a true Dante specialist needed, especially if he or she wished to teach in a department of Italian or Romance studies.

The University of Edinburgh has a doctoral program in Italian.

Indeed, she was sitting in front of several of the faculty members of that program, while Professor Todd sat next to her.

Julia’s heart skipped a beat. Gabriel had taken the job at Boston University so he could be close to her while she studied at Harvard. But professionally, the job was not the best fit. And Katherine Picton had said as much, in the conversation in which she’d suggested Julia spend a semester in Scotland.

The University of Edinburgh recognized Gabriel’s accomplishments. The Sage Lectures were drawing enormous attention, including the attention of the media. Other universities and research institutes would take notice. Perhaps Edinburgh would invite him to stay. . . .

The principal

finished his introduction and Gabriel joined him at the lectern. The men shook hands.

Gabriel adjusted the microphone to accommodate his six-foot-two height and withdrew his black-rimmed eyeglasses from inside his suit jacket. A hush fell over the audience as he adjusted his notes on top of the lectern.

“Mr. Principal, members of the University Court, colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, you honor me with your attendance. I’d like to thank the University of Edinburgh for their generous invitation, which I gladly accept.