Page 121 of Girl in the Water
Chapter Twenty-One
Daniela
Daniela was so happy and excited, if she hadn’t had all that alcohol in her system, she never would have been able to fall asleep.
Something, maybe a car horn outside, woke her hours later. Sunlight fell in a golden swath across the bed, across Ian. He had a rugged face. A soldier’s face. To her, it was the most handsome face in the world.
She put a hand over his chest, over his steadily beating heart, and watched him, feeling completely contented and happy.
His hand came up and covered hers. He opened his eyes and looked at her. “How are you feeling?”
She burrowed into his embrace. “Like I am exactly where I am supposed to be.”
He brushed his lips over her forehead and tightened his arms around her.
But before she could float off into the bliss of waking up with him like this, her gaze fell on the bedside clock and she shot out of bed—pain slicing into her head from the sudden movement.Oh, not now.
She couldnothave a hangover!
“I have a presentation at the convention center in an hour.” She ran for the bathroom to brush her teeth.
“I thought you said they let you go.”
“I’m not doing this for the firm,” she said around her toothbrush before pulling it out of her mouth so she could say the rest more clearly. “I’m doing this for See-Love-Aid. The firm won’t send a replacement. They’ll just blow it off. No lawyer is going to take a billable hour and give it away for free.”
“You got clothes?” Ian stuck his head in the door.
“I left a couple of dresses here when I moved. One of those will work.”
“Take an aspirin. Here. I’ll drive you.” He padded away, called back, “I’ll make coffee.”
They made it to the convention center in the nick of time, and she showed up at the back entrance of the stage just when the conference organizer was about to have a nervous meltdown, judging by her wide-eyed, frazzled expression.
The sixty-something woman in an impeccable red suit stepped forward, grabbed Daniela’s hand, and squeezed a little too hard. “I thought you weren’t going to make it.”
“Sorry to worry you. Presentation cued up?”
“Yes. Here is the remote for the slide projector.” The woman dropped the small plastic controller into Daniela’s hand, then gently shoved her out onto the stage.
And then the spotlight hit her.
Wow. Okay.
The walk to the microphone at the podium at the front of the stage wasn’t bad. But then her eyes adjusted to the bright light, and she could make out the audience.
The enormous room seated at least a thousand people. More people than lived in her village on the Içana. Most were on their cell phones, tapping away.
As she looked around, she understood that many of them had come only because their bosses sent them. Like the law firm had sent Daniela. Their job was to show up and maybe bring back some flyers. Or they’d come for the continuing education credit they would receive for attending the conference.
How was she going to reach them?
She gripped the remote, knowing her slideshow wasn’t going to cut it. She had planned on talking statistics and showing pictures of exploited children. But everyone there had seen pictures of scruffy children before.
Her knees trembled, and she grabbed the podium for support. Then Ian’s tall form appeared at the edge of the first row, and ducking down—Excuse me. Excuse me.—he went all the way to the middle and sat down right in front of her, a smile on his face.
Daniela filled her lungs and locked her knees.
“Hi,” she began. “I’m Daniela Wintermann.”
