“As you may recall, just then I did not want to discuss good times with Julia. I was furious with her. I mean, we had just returned from Wilkie’s office, where I had to sit there and nod while she gave money away to the NAACP.” He put his cheek alongside the baby’s. “I’ll dig up some of the old silent films. You can come to Summit Drive sometime and watch them.”

“But you said—”

“I’m sorry I said I was finished with you, Roxanne. I said a lot of cruel things, things I didn’t mean—or I did mean them at the time. I was enraged at the thought of you with a colored man.”

All my ambivalent feelings for Leon warred and jostled like unsecured cargo on a storm-tossed ship. “Please, Leon, don’t call him a colored man.”

“Fine,” he said sharply. “I didn’t come here to talk about him.”

I opened a window and welcomed the wind off the sea while Leon patted the baby’s back and soothed his fussing with murmured endearments.

“I knew this baby would change my life, I just never guessed how much. Aaron has made me rethink everything I know, Roxanne, everything I believed in. Ever since I first held him in my arms, I’ve asked myself every day what’s really important. The money? The reputation? The power of life and sometimes death? Love. Love is all that’s really important. You’re my granddaughter, and I’ve loved you all your life, and I will always love you. I want you to know you’re welcome at Summit Drive anytime, and I hope you’ll come. Often.”

“What about Denise? She won’t want to see me.”

“She doesn’t want to see anyone who can’t help her lose weight and find the perfect script for her next film. She doesn’t seem to care about the baby at all. She’s eaten up with ambition.” He added ruefully, “I recognize the symptoms. I wouldn’t have before, but I do now. Denise is convinced that you set up the Fly Me to the Moon disaster from the beginning, that you planned it, that you wanted to bring us all down because you always hated her.”

“I always did hate her, but I didn’t set out to ruin her, or anyone else, and I’m sorry,” I said truthfully, adding, “I don’t regret helping Max, but I shouldn’t have brought the scripts to Empire. I’m sorry, Leon.”

“I’m sorry too, Honeybee. I’m sorry about Max too. Is he doing all right?”