Eli's Heart

By Susan Moore Jordan

In the nineteen fifties, ELI LEVIN, a brilliant teenage pianist born with a serious heart defect and not expected to live past the age of thirty, meets KRISSY PORTER on a visit to a small town in the Southeast. They play piano duets, talk about baseball, eat banana splits. A budding romance is ended by interference from Eli’s family, but they find their way back to each other three years later.
They marry on Krissy’s twentieth birthday while they are both college students. The music they share is a vital part of their life together. Once he begins his career, Eli’s rise in the music world is meteoric.
Although they are devoted and intensely passionate from the beginning, the couple must struggle with never knowing when the various repairs to Eli’s heart might give out.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Susan Moore Jordan
• Release date: Jul 2, 2016
• ISBN: 9781310119620

Susan Moore Jordan

After a lifetime as a musician—performer, teacher, musical theater director—Susan Moore Jordan wrote and published her first novel in 2013 at the age of seventy-five, and she hasn’t stopped since.Her first novel, How I Grew Up, was released in 2013. Two additional novels followed: Eli’s Heart in 2014 and You Are My Song in 2015, completing “The Carousel Trilogy.” A fourth novel, Jamie’s Children, was released in July, 2016.Memories of Jake, the first book in "The Cameron Saga," was followed by Man with No Yesterdays. Set in the Vietnam War era, the books follow the impact of military service and its aftermath on two brothers.In May 2018, Susan Jordan added the genre "cozy mystery" to her novels when she released The Case of the Slain Soprano. In November of 2018 the second book in the "Augusta McKee Mystery Series" was released: The Case of the Disappearing Director. In April 2019, the third book in the series, The Case of the Toxic Tenor, was released; and in October 2019, book four, The Case of the Purloined Professor, was added.Jordan attended the College-Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati and moved to the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania in 1971 with her husband and three children.Beginning in 1984, Jordan directed some eighty local community and high school musical theater productions. She retired from directing in 2015 after over thirty years and wrote about her adventures in “More Fog, Please”: Thirty-One Years Directing Community and High School Musicals, released in November, 2015.On Feb. 2, 2018, The Case of the Slain Soprano was named a finalist in the 2018 Wishing Shelf Independent Book Awards in the category Books for Adults (fiction). The book was also a semi-finalist in The Kindle Book Awards. Two novels, The Case of the Disappearing Director and Man with No Yesterdays, were named finalists in the 2019 Wishing Shelf Awards.All of Jordan’s books are “music-centric” (in the words of one reviewer), and readers comment on the strength of the element of music included in her work. Jordan sees writing as another way to share the music she loves, which she considers “the most powerful force in the universe.”Articles by Susan Moore Jordan have appeared in Musical America and The Guardian, and on August 2, 2019, she appeared on Hour Three of “The Today Show” as a Super Senior.For more information, please visit her website at www.susanmoorejordan.com

Book preview

ELI’S HEART

a novel

by

Susan Moore Jordan

Books by Susan Moore Jordan

How I Grew Up

Eli’s Heart

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to locales, events, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Eli’s Heart © 2014 by Susan Moore Jordan. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of Susan Moore Jordan.

ISBN-13: 978-0692239360

ISBN-10: 0692239367

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014911683

Author’s photo by Amy Rau

Cover concept and realization by Tristan and Taylor Flanagan

Cover photo by Tristan Flanagan

Printed by CreateSpace

Manufactured in the United States of America.

FOREWORD

Watching the fine made-for-television film, Something the Lord Made, brought to mind someone I met decades ago who suffered from the congenital heart defect Tetralogy of Fallot. The movie explores the pioneering surgery performed by Drs. Alfred Blalock and Helen Taussig (and Blalock’s remarkable assistant Vivien Thomas) at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore in the middle of the nineteen forties, which was the first time these patients had any hope of relief from their worst symptoms and a chance for a longer life.

One of the most challenging aspects of writing Eli’s Heart was finding a cardiologist willing to research treatment of the condition in those early years, so the first person I need to thank is Dr. Aarti Asnani of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, who was kind enough to guide me through understanding the condition well enough to attempt to explain it in layman’s terms, and to further give me guidance as to the treatment my character Eli might have received in the middle of the twentieth century. Aarti read everything I sent her and corrected my misunderstandings and mistakes, and was encouraging and kind.

My thanks to a young doctor who was a cast member in a high school musical production I directed in the late 1990s. Dr. Andrew Rennekamp, now working in medical research at Massachusetts General, connected me with his colleague Dr. Asnani, proving how important networking is to every author. Dr. Andrew played the leading role in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat while a senior in high school. When he read my first novel, How I Grew Up, he wrote me, and I jumped at the opportunity to ask him for assistance.

There are many other people I need to thank. Scott Besser, gifted pianist and piano teacher extraordinaire, was immensely helpful with the descriptions of piano music from the viewpoint of the pianist. The fine violinist and teacher Christopher Souza led me to the beautiful Franck sonata that is important in the book, and shared his insight into the work.

Les Benedict, brother of my good friend Michaele, is a Los Angeles-based professional musician with extensive recording experience. He gave me guidance about recording for the film and read and commented on the scene in Hollywood. What I have been told is true: most people are very generous when approached about sharing their knowledge.

And I’ve learned that it’s impossible to write without the friends who are willing to read as you write. Eric Mark, Michaele Benedict, and Judy Lawler had been invaluable when I was writing How I Grew Up, and all three were willing to read Eli’s Heart as I wrote and rewrote. I also have to thank Mikie for the beautiful translation of the final song in Schumann’s cycle Frauenliebe und Leben. Ashleigh Evans not only read, but copy edited the book, and made many pertinent observations and suggestions that I’m sure improved my writing. I enlisted the assistance of Audrey Henry and Kelly Foley to read the book and offer feedback. Eric gave the book one last read, providing invaluable suggestions for changes which I think strengthen the story.

The cover design was provided by two smart and knowledgeable young men, sons of a former voice student and good friend. Thanks so much to Tristan and Taylor Flanagan for the concept and realization, and Scott Besser for being our model. And again I thank Amy Rau for the author photograph she provided.

Writing Eli’s Heart has been an unforgettable journey for many reasons. It’s a journey I am very glad I made.

Susan Moore Jordan

Contents

Prelude

Flying Home from Moscow

Andante appassionato

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Allegro

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Presto

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Coda

Afterword

Discography

Prelude

Flying Home from Moscow

It was the final night of the Moscow International Music Competition. In the aptly named Hall of Columns, with its massive Corinthian pillars, three-tiered crystal chandeliers and plush red seats, the large audience of world-class musicians and music lovers generously applauded the Award announcements.

The twenty-two year old American violinist Warren Anderson had just been awarded the gold medal. His accompanist, twenty-nine year old American pianist Eli Levin, then received a special award in recognition of his brilliance. It was the first time such an award had ever been presented at this event.

Eli’s wife Kristina was overwhelmed when Eli’s award was announced. The audience stood and applauded, those near Eli voicing their approval: Well done! "Très bien! Bravo! Pozdravlaiu!" Everyone who had heard him recognized his genius, and the judges had as well.

Eli bent to embrace his petite wife and, flushed with excitement, hurried to the stage to accept the award. Krissy watched through tears as her slender, dark-haired husband accepted a medal from the judges. When he returned to Krissy, he pressed the medal into her hands and bent down to speak to her softly: This is for you, my sweet girl. He held her close as she rested her face against his chest and wept for joy.

Warren, Eli, and Krissy had traveled to Moscow together. The trip was a surprise for Krissy. Warren’s sponsors had provided her ticket and Eli had arranged with Maestro Aaron Rubin, General Director of the City Opera Company for whom Krissy was Personal Assistant, to give her the more than three weeks she needed to accompany them. Eli knew his wife had always wanted to visit Russia. It meant a great deal to him to make it possible, and Krissy was thrilled.

The evening after the competition ended they were at the airport preparing for the long trip home, flying first to Paris and then to New York. They left as the sun was setting. As the Boeing 707 lifted into the air, the spires and onion domes of the city soon disappeared into the concentric circles of light surrounding the Kremlin. The sky on the horizon faded from a pale blue to a soft rose to a deep purple.

Krissy wanted to give Eli a sleeping pill but he shook his head; he was tired enough to sleep without it. They were in the first class cabin, and Warren was across the aisle from them, the Amati violin he had played positioned securely beside him. That violin, valued at over one million dollars and borrowed from a collector, had not left his side the entire trip.

Eli stretched his legs out as best he could. Krissy asked the stewardess for a blanket, and tenderly tucked it around her husband and herself. He smiled at her, rested his head on her shoulder, and soon after takeoff, he was sleeping soundly in the darkened cabin. She carefully removed his glasses and put them in her handbag.

Eli was born with a defective heart. He had received a second surgery for the condition only months earlier, and even though he had seemed tireless and energetic throughout the competition, Warren noticed on the drive to the airport that he looked exhausted. No doubt that was why Krissy wanted to be sure her husband received some needed rest on the flight.

Warren had also stretched out, and he could see Krissy’s warm brown eyes as she watched Eli sleep. She looked at him as if he were the most priceless thing on earth, a treasure almost unimaginable. He envied Eli this kind of love, a love he seldom saw even between the most devoted couples. He leaned across the aisle and said to her softly, What are you thinking, Krissy, when you look at Eli like that?

She said, not taking her eyes off Eli, That I can’t believe I’m with this incredible man. That I’ve been given a gift I can’t even describe. She gently touched his head, stroking the dark, curly hair as she so often did. She smiled at Warren.

He’s very fortunate to have you, Warren said. I know he adores you. He’s told me that many times.

Krissy looked again at her sleeping husband and kissed his temple softly. I’m the fortunate one, Warren. I lost him, years ago, not long after I met him. Eli brought us back together. I treasure every minute I have with him.

Sounds to me like there’s a story behind that, Warren said, settling back in his seat.

She smiled but didn’t reply. Indeed there is, she thought. With a noble prince who rescues a damsel in distress, a wicked queen, and a sleeping dragon. A story with an unknown ending.

Andante appassionato

1

Krissy Porter was fifteen and a sophomore in high school when she first met Eli Levin. She grew up in a pleasant, almost storybook kind of town in the Southeast. Eli’s older sister Rachel DiCarlo lived in the same town; she had moved there from New York after she married.

In Krissy’s hometown of Pine Glen, nobody locked their doors; cars sat in driveways or on the street with the keys in the ignition; kids played impromptu games, unsupervised, in neighborhoods. Teenagers listened to rock ’n’ roll on the radio and met on Saturday mornings at one of the two movie theaters in town to watch the latest installment of Western serials, a string of cartoons, and a really bad B movie.

Krissy had heard about New York but had never been there. It was the world of opera and Broadway, some kind of mecca she hoped to see someday, maybe as a singer at the Metropolitan Opera. That was her current dream.

Krissy’s mother Lily and Rachel DiCarlo were both members of the local Women’s Club and had become friendly. Krissy came home from school one spring day to find Mrs. DiCarlo sitting at the dining table with her mother. It was explained that Rachel’s young brother, Eli, was a piano prodigy who was coming to visit her for a few days. He had performed recitals in New York and had even played a Mozart piano concerto with an orchestra in Westchester County, so he was becoming famous. He would present a recital for the Junior Music Club, of which Krissy was a member. Rachel was arranging for a pot luck dinner to precede Eli’s program and she was looking for a nice young person to sit with them during the dinner.

Rachel told them her brother Eli had been born with a congenital heart defect and would probably not live to be older than thirty. It was a sobering thought, but Krissy wasn’t sure how to react to this. At fifteen, thirty seems pretty old. Forty seems ancient. Still, it must be hard to think you had these limits facing you. At fifteen, life seems to stretch out to some kind of far horizon, and bringing that horizon closer is hard to imagine. Krissy didn’t ask, but she wondered how his heart condition might affect his playing.

Rachel also told them the surgery Eli had when he was a very young child had saved his life, because before the surgery was available, many children with his condition didn’t survive infancy. Very few lived past their teens. Lily’s comment was, Oh my goodness. It’s a good thing he had the surgery.

Yes, it certainly is. Would you and your mother join us at our table? Rachel asked Krissy.

Of course, we’d be happy to, wouldn’t we, Mom?

Lily concurred. The program was to be in about three weeks at a meeting room in the local library.

The evening of the dinner and concert, Lily and Krissy arrived earlier than Rachel and Eli. Lily had prepared a casserole to contribute to the dinner. When Rachel and Eli came in, Krissy walked over to meet him. Rachel had told her he was almost sixteen, but he looked much younger to Krissy, more like a kid than a teenager. He was kind of chubby, with a round face, dark hair that was cut very short, and thick glasses. But he had a nice smile and the eyes behind the glasses sparkled.

She wasn’t sure what she had expected, but he didn’t look sick. And he certainly didn’t act sick. They served their plates and sat down together to eat. Eli asked Krissy a lot of questions about her school, what she liked to do, how long had she been playing piano. He was nice to talk to and seemed very smart. He also told her he didn’t expect to live past thirty. She didn’t know how to respond to this remark from a boy who was just a few months older than she was.

Eli thought Krissy was the prettiest girl he had ever seen. He liked her warm brown eyes and the fair skin that looked so soft. When she smiled, she had tiny dimples in the corners of her mouth, and she smiled often. He liked the soft wave of her light brown hair that fell over one eyebrow so she had to keep brushing it back. He liked hearing her talk in her soft Southern drawl. He was enchanted with her. He noticed how small her hands were. She was a small girl. He saw a tiny scar on her palm, just under her thumb, and asked her what had happened. She laughed and told him she’d fallen when trying to learn to ride a bike and cut her hand on a rock. Then she looked concerned; she wondered if Eli had ever ridden a bike. She said, I never did learn how to ride, though.

Tables were cleared, Eli was introduced, and he sat down to play. Krissy was enthralled. She had never heard someone her own age play the way this boy did. Nearly everything he played sounded extremely difficult, and he made it look easy. He played Mozart, Chopin, Beethoven, and Debussy. There was prolonged applause, and everyone wanted to compliment him on his playing.

During dinner, Krissy had learned he’d be back in town for several weeks during the summer to spend more time with his sister, and would be returning in December to play Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto with the local orchestra.

Before Rachel and Eli left, he and Krissy made plans to see each other during the summer. She invited him to come to her house and spend time with her. Rachel had told Lily and Krissy that Eli’s activities would have to be restricted, everything they did would have to be inside the house, and he had to be careful not to do anything strenuous.

Krissy said, What do you enjoy, Eli? I mean besides music.

I like baseball a lot. I’m going to see my first game for my birthday next month.

I like baseball, too. Are you a Giants fan? Eli laughed when she said that.

There’s only one team, Krissy. The Yankees. He laughed again, and she laughed with him.

As they were talking, Rachel spoke quietly to Lily and emphasized her requirements for Eli’s visits. She told Lily the surgery hadn’t cured Eli; it had given him the chance to feel better and to live longer. They had to watch over him carefully.

Eli came to Krissy’s house several times. He had liked her mom when he met her at the recital, and he met her dad at the house. Her dad, Walt, enjoyed hearing him play and was very complimentary. Eli thought Krissy looked a lot like her father, with his light hair and fair skin. But she had her mom’s brown eyes.

The Porters’ home was a split-level. When Eli first came to the house and he and Rachel walked down the steps, he could see the large room which served as the living and dining rooms through the open banister. The room had a spacious, airy feeling. Wood paneling stretched ceiling to floor on the interior wall, and the opposite wall seemed nearly all glass because of the two large windows and the sliding doors that opened to the patio. Contrasting with the blond Danish Modern furniture was a spinet piano in ebony against the interior wall.

A large framed mirror hung above the piano. Several oil paintings decorated the room, all landscapes; one with the Smoky Mountains in the distance, the others smaller and more intimate: one a close view of the nearby river, one of a glen with a rocky garden, and the third a farm scene. Eli learned these had all been painted by Krissy’s grandmother, who lived with her grandfather on a farm.

Eli felt comfortable in the Porters’ home; he commented on his first visit what a nice house it was. It was very new, and Eli said his house in New York was very old. Krissy took him through the house and showed him her room. She had a pink corduroy bedspread on her bed and pink curtains at the windows, and a white shag area rug on the floor and white painted furniture. The walls were papered with a pink, white and pale green floral print.

Eli thought Krissy’s room was perfect; it looked the way her room should look. Her bed was piled with stuffed animals, some of which were gifts from relatives and friends who had brought them to her from trips they’d made. She’d been collecting them for a long time. She showed him animals that had come from Mexico, and Canada, and Paris, and London.

She had souvenir books from the performances she’d seen of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo when they came to the nearby university on their annual tour. They sat together on her bed and looked through them. He asked Krissy if she was a dancer, and she told him she’d been studying ballet ever since she was seven.

Since Krissy knew Eli was a baseball fan, they sometimes listened to radio broadcasts of games. It was fun for him to listen with her, because she understood what was happening. They could appreciate the great stop the second baseman made on what should have been a base hit. They argued over whether the second baseman or the shortstop had the most important position in the infield. Eli thought it was the second baseman. Krissy said the shortstop had a tougher job because he had to cover all the holes in the infield.

Krissy’s father Walt had a large collection of classical records, and they would go through those and select pieces to listen to. Most of it was orchestral music, which Eli loved, so they would sit together through an entire symphony. Two of Krissy’s favorites were Brahms’ Fourth and Tchaikovsky’s Sixth, so they listened to each of those at different times. They listened to Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherezade and to Tchaikovsky’s ballet Swan Lake.

Krissy always asked Eli to play for her. She was learning Chopin’s Minute Waltz and asked him to play it. He sat ostentatiously at the keyboard and announced, I shall now attempt to play Chopin’s ‘Minute Waltz’ in sixty seconds. She laughed; he was repeating what he’d done at his recital. She thought the way he said it, completely deadpan, was very funny.

He played her some of the music from the concerto he was working on. He was attempting to memorize it at that point, so he’d play only those parts since he didn’t have the score with him. When she watched him play the opening of the concerto Krissy was fascinated. Eli had large, strong hands, and long fingers. The heavy, thick opening chords looked almost impossible to play, but he attacked the piano confidently. Each chord was different and was followed by the same bass note repeated in the left hand.

The introduction began softly, and grew in sound until the final chord reached a fortissimo sequence of octaves just before the opening theme. He would stop when he reached that point because he didn’t have the next section memorized yet, but the way the concerto started Krissy thought was thrilling. He played her some of the lyrical sections, and they were some of the most beautiful melodies she’d ever heard. She couldn’t wait to hear him play the entire piece in December.

Eli played with passion, clarity, and elegance. She found the sounds he could make on the piano astonishing. Her favorite piece was Debussy’s Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum. He played the beginning rapid scales with a feathery touch. As the music wove its way through the images Debussy painted in sound, it grew to a fortissimo. She watched and listened, in awe of him. She loved to watch his hands as he played, so she would stand by the piano. He liked having her as an audience. He basked in her attention.

Krissy was very surprised when Eli asked her to play duets with him from a book he found in her piano music. They were fairly easy, but he seemed to really enjoy playing with her. He would sometimes do things while they were playing that made her laugh, such as suddenly playing in a different key or adding ornaments to make his part more interesting. Sometimes their arms or shoulders would brush as they played. Krissy wasn’t aware that Eli sat closer to her on purpose so this would happen.

She asked him if he’d like to play chess with her. He almost always beat her. When she won, she felt fairly certain he had thrown the match so she wouldn’t stop playing chess with him, but she never said anything. She wanted Eli to enjoy himself at her house. She would have loved for them to have gone to their patio and just sit outside sometimes, but she was mindful of Rachel’s instructions so they stayed indoors, and she tried to keep him occupied and happy while he was there.

Krissy had loved to dance nearly all her life. When she was little, she would take a skirt and pin the hem up to the waistband from underneath and pretend it was a tutu. She loved her father’s recording of Scheherazade and made up dances to selections from it, and insisted that Lily and Walt sit and watch her dance. Walt thought she had a good sense of rhythm and moved nicely, so he and Lily arranged for her to take dance lessons.

By the time she met Eli, Krissy had gone through a difficult time. She had dreamed of being a ballet dancer, but when she was in seventh grade her body started to change, and it was apparent she would not have the willowy physique dancers needed. She was trim, but her chest had developed, and her legs had not grown much. She still loved to dance. Since Eli knew she had been studying ballet for many years, he asked her to dance for him.

She wore her practice clothing whenever she danced, leotard and tights, clothing that is very close-fitting. It was what she always wore when she practiced, and she didn’t think anything of wearing it to dance for Eli. But when Eli saw the curve of her breasts and watched her move with such grace, something stirred in him. He thought he might be in love with her, but he didn’t tell her that.

When he left to return to New York they promised to be pen pals and write each other. Just before he left her house, Eli asked Krissy if she would hug him. She was surprised, but she put her arms around his neck and gave him a friendly squeeze. He was a sweet boy.

Krissy liked writing Eli, and he wrote wonderful letters. She found funny cards she thought he would like and sent them to him with little notes in them. They corresponded well into the fall, but then Eli wrote a letter Krissy had a hard time answering. He wanted to be her boyfriend. He wanted them to have a romance.

Inside Krissy’s womanly body was a little girl struggling to grow up. One of the things she had most liked about Eli was that she found in him a kindred spirit, a guileless boy full of wonder. She could be herself with him. She didn’t want a boyfriend, she liked things the way they were. She liked him immensely, but she didn’t see him as a romantic figure. Krissy daydreamed about movie stars. Eli was a young boy who was her friend. She didn’t want to hurt Eli, but by procrastinating and not answering him, she hurt him more. She started to write him more than once, but didn’t know what to say to him. Weeks passed.

He wrote to her again about two weeks before he was to return to play with the orchestra, and asked if he would see her at the concert. He told her if she was at the concert he hoped she could go to dinner afterwards with his family, and if she was coming she should write and let him know, and he’d phone her when he got back in town.

When she received this letter, Krissy realized how much she had missed Eli. She liked him better than any boy she had ever known. She was excited about seeing him again, and told him so when she replied. Of course she’d be there, she would never miss hearing him play. She said she was sorry she’d become a very bad pen pal and hoped he’d forgive her. She would look forward to his phone call and she’d love to join them for dinner. She didn’t say it in her letter, but she thought if he asked her again if he could be her boyfriend, this time she would say yes.

Krissy’s letter arrived while Eli was at school, and his mother, Ida, opened it, read it, and threw it away. Eli didn’t know Krissy had replied to his letter.

The day of the concert, Krissy’s high school music teacher took her into his office. He told her Eli’s sister had called him and said the family did not want her to attend the symphony concert. Krissy was indignant when she heard this, and said to her teacher, Of course I’m going. I wouldn’t miss this concert. I wrote Eli and told him I was coming, and of course I will be there. Her teacher said further if she did go, they definitely did not want her to come backstage. Krissy responded, They have no right to tell me that. I want to see him, and he wrote that he wants to see me.

After dinner that night, she chose the purple dress she wanted to wear. She put her hair up in rollers after she bathed. She used her dryer, brushed her hair out and arranged it carefully, and applied makeup. She chose a purse to take with her that matched the black silk faille shoes she was wearing. She looked down at her feet and admired the shoes; they were new. She put her coat on, and her mother drove her to the high school where she met her friend Mary Jean. They sat in the balcony for the first half of the concert, and Krissy was barely listening. She had come to see Eli, and to hear him play.

Eli played the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto Number Two. When he came out on stage, she was very surprised: Eli had changed considerably in the four months since she had seen him. He was taller and trim, and his hair was now thick and curly. The glasses he was wearing better suited his face. He wasn’t handsome, but he was very appealing. She fell in love with him, listening to him play Rachmaninoff, and realized she had loved him from the time they met. He was a young man now, and she couldn’t wait to see him after the concert.

When she went backstage to see him he looked at her rather strangely. She had hoped he’d greet her with open arms, even though he hadn’t called her when he got back to town. She understood she’d made a mistake by not writing him for so long, but she hoped to make up for that. She told him how wonderfully he had played and thanked him for playing Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum as one of his encores. He shook her hand politely and thanked her for coming.

Confused and sad, she called her mother from the pay phone in the lobby to come and pick her up. Just as she hung up the phone, Eli came looking for her. He explained that his sister had told him she wasn’t coming to the concert, and that was why he treated her so strangely backstage. He hadn’t expected to see her.

He asked if she could come to dinner with him and she tried to call her mother back, but there was no answer. He stayed and talked with her until he had to go. She promised to write him, and he liked that. She tried to apologize for the weeks she didn’t write but he said, It doesn’t matter. You’re here now. When Rachel came to tell him they had to leave, he said to her with tears in his eyes, Will you come?

As much as she wanted to go with him, she couldn’t leave. She had no way of letting Lily know where she had gone. She had tears in her own eyes when she replied, I’m sorry. I can’t. He turned abruptly and walked away without telling her goodbye.

She wrote him a long letter and mailed it the next day, hopeful she could mend their friendship. But the letter was returned to her, unopened, and her heart was broken. She knew she had been at fault.

Ida had intercepted this letter also, and once again, Eli didn’t know Krissy had written him.

Ida had been very angry when Krissy stopped writing Eli for several weeks. He had written Krissy without Ida’s knowledge about joining them for dinner. When Krissy’s letter in response to his arrived, Eli was concentrating on polishing the concerto, and Ida didn’t think he needed any distractions. She had determined Krissy was not good enough for Eli; he should have nothing more to do with her.

The day after the concert her music teacher passed on another message from the family. She was never to write Eli again, because if she did, her letters would be returned. Eli would never see them. Krissy couldn’t believe anyone would do something so unkind; anyway, she’d already written him.

When Lily saw how devastated Krissy was after she handed her the letter that was indeed returned, she advised her, I guess it wasn’t meant to be. Probably the best thing is for you to try and put him out of your mind.

* * *

Less than two months later, Krissy’s good friend Melanie went through a horrific family tragedy when both her parents were shot to death by her estranged brother-in-law. Krissy’s heart went out to her friend, and she did everything she could to help Mel deal with her terrible loss.

Melanie’s parents had been murdered the weekend before auditions for the school musical, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel. The school music teachers talked to Krissy the following Monday. They were undecided about what they should do with the auditions, since Melanie was definitely a possibility for one of the female leads. They told Krissy one option they had was to postpone the auditions for a week. That would still be difficult for Melanie; her parents’ funerals were planned for Thursday, and she’d only have a week before she would have to sing.

Krissy had worked with Melanie on the song she had prepared for her audition. She knew how hopeful Melanie was to have a good role in the show. Melanie, a senior, wanted to be an actress, and having a lead in Carousel might make a difference in her getting scholarship money for college the following year. Krissy pleaded with her music teachers to wait. She was sure being in the show would help Melanie deal with her unspeakable loss.

Auditions were postponed for a week and Melanie won the leading role of Julie Jordan. Krissy played harp for the production and was often at rehearsals with Melanie. Within a matter of weeks after her parents’ deaths, Melanie gave a polished and very moving performance as Julie. It was an inspiration to everyone involved with the production, and especially to Krissy.

What happened to Melanie made Krissy’s heartbreak seem minor, and she tried to accept the fact that her hopes for a romance with Eli had ended. She considered from time to time writing to him again, but she was sure any letter would only be sent back unopened. She eventually disposed of the letter which was returned to her. It was painful to see it; it reminded her of the worst mistake she had ever made in her life.

But she kept Eli’s letters always, tied together with a white lace ribbon and tucked away in the back of a drawer in the vanity in her pink and white room.

2

Eli had no idea Krissy had written him two letters which never reached him. He didn’t know anything about the phone calls. He was left feeling that a girl he really liked, in fact loved, had treated him badly. When he had seen her after the concert, he was aware there was a great deal of feeling between them. She had looked at him differently. He was thrilled when she promised to write, and he was sure they would resume their relationship.

But he never received another letter from her. Ida insisted he forget Krissy, and eventually he gave her Krissy’s old letters to dispose of. He played the Rachmaninoff concerto again in the spring, this time with the philharmonic, and became something of a celebrity as a result.

Ida had Eli tutored from the time he reached school age, and continued to do so even after the surgery. He persuaded his parents to allow him to attend the arts high school in the city for his senior year. He planned to go to college, and he said he’d seem less a misfit if he had at least a year in high school. He didn’t like high school at all. The kids treated him for much of the year as if he were invisible; most of them had been friends since grade school and weren’t accepting of him. After he’d played with the philharmonic, they were friendlier.

He decided to go to a liberal arts college not far from his home because he was offered a full scholarship, including a living stipend, which was unusual. He was feeling stronger than he ever had, and he started walking all over the campus. A few of the kids he had graduated from high school with were in his freshman class, and the music students soon found out what a fine pianist he was. College was much better than high school.

Eli’s family, especially his mother, and his piano teachers were sure he could have a career as a piano virtuoso, and they planned for him to audition at Juilliard for graduate school. There was a great teacher there who would guide him in his chosen career.

But Eli soon had other ideas. He had been approached by a young voice major he met the first week he was on campus. Jackie Barron needed an accompanist for a difficult piece he was singing on a recital. He needed a really good piano player, and Eli was recommended to him.

Jackie was the star of the campus, even though he was only a freshman. He had been in a few films when he was a child, and on occasion made appearances for benefits and special events all over the country. He was an attractive young man with even features that the cameras loved, brown hair that had a hint of red in it, and hazel eyes. He enjoyed acting and was quite good, and he didn’t think the door had been closed on his returning to films as an adult.

He was fortunate that his family had money and didn’t look at him as a meal ticket, so once his childhood movie career came to an end, they had encouraged him to broaden his horizons. While his parents loved California and continued to live there, Jackie had chosen to come to the New York area for college because his grandparents lived in Westchester County. On his visits back East to spend time with them, he had come to think of the Hudson Valley as the most beautiful place he’d ever been and decided to go to college in that area.

Students flocked to him, but Jackie’s parents had helped him learn to recognize the people who were genuine. He was friendly and pleasant with everybody, but selective about whom he actually chose as friends. The first time he met Eli, he was a little concerned about this pianist who was going to play for him. Eli seemed nervous, and it was a difficult piece for any pianist.

Have you played this before? Jackie asked, handing him a copy of Rachmaninoff’s Floods of Spring in the baritone key. Rachmaninoff’s music tends to have cascades of notes and thick chords for the pianist, and is always liberally sprinkled with accidentals. In this particular song, those notes and accidentals were zipping by. Jackie was reluctant to ask any pianist to sightread it, and his thought was to give Eli the copy and suggest they meet after he’d had a chance to work on it.

Let me see what I can do. Can you give me a tempo? Jackie did so, and Eli, who became a different person once seated at the piano, sightread it flawlessly and expressively. Jackie had never heard it played so beautifully. He was in total awe of Eli; he recognized brilliance when he encountered it.

Jackie and Eli became close friends. Jackie appreciated Eli’s masterful playing and fine musicianship, and soon discovered his new friend had a quick wit. Eli had been surprised at how well Jackie sang, and was impressed with his desire to find other outlets for his abilities rather than resting on his laurels as a former child star. Eli admired Jackie’s self-confidence and lack of self-consciousness, and wished he had one or the other of those qualities.

Eli discovered how much fun it was to perform with another musician, and he started doing it frequently. He practiced his solo piano pieces, but he by far preferred making music with singers, violinists, cellists, and occasionally a woodwind or brass player.

Some of these performers were girls, and Eli began to get a lot of female attention. He liked girls. He liked them a lot, although he had a hard time trusting them, because of what had happened with Krissy.

Near the end of the first semester of his sophomore year, he went home for dinner one night to tell his parents he did not want to be a concert pianist. He loved playing with other musicians, and that was how he wanted to use his talent.

Saul, to whom Eli bore a strong resemblance, greeted him at the door with a warm embrace. The men were the same height. Saul’s hair did not have the curl to it Eli’s did. It was thick and wavy, and almost completely a steely gray. His son had inherited his warm, wide smile and twinkling eyes. There was a strong bond between them. Eli greatly appreciated that his father did not hover the way his mother tended to. Saul was quite successful; he owned