Beyond All Dreams (9781441265210) by Camden Elizabeth

Author:Camden, Elizabeth [Camden, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: FIC042030, FIC042040, FIC027050, Women librarians—Fiction, Legislators—United States—Fiction, Washington (D.C.)—History—19th century—Fiction
ISBN: 9781441265210
Publisher: Baker Pub Group
Published: 2014-11-05T05:00:00+00:00

After Luke’s arrest, Anna sat dumbfounded at her desk, feeling useless and afraid. Her heart had been pounding like a freight train ever since he’d been marched out of the map room. She wasn’t built for this kind of stress. That was why she’d become a librarian, so she could live a quiet life surrounded by books and maps and not worry about political enemies coming out of the woodwork to arrest you or demote you or turn you into a national laughingstock.

Rather than let her anxiety fester, she found a law dictionary and tried to piece together what kind of mischief Luke had gotten himself into.

“Miss O’Brien?” Standing in the doorway was a bald man with the widest mustache she’d ever seen. He held a camera before him.

“Yes?”

“I was wondering if I could get a photograph. No, no . . . you needn’t get up. You looked very becoming poring over that book. This will only take a moment.”

She supposed it would be all right. Photographers had been swarming all over the new library yesterday as they moved in, but they hadn’t photographed the map room yet. She glanced around. Most of the books had been put away, though the map tubes were still in a messy heap along the back wall.

“I’ll just stash these tubes out of sight, shall I?”

“No need,” the man said. He had been fastening his camera to a tripod, but stopped to gesture her back to the center table. “Quickly now. Just a simple photograph of you next to that open book. Standing would be better. Just place your hand on the edge . . . yes, perfect.”

He went back to adjusting the camera, looking down through the viewfinder. “Hold still, and . . . perfect! Exactly what I needed. Thank you, Miss O’Brien.”

Before he could leave, another man pushed into the room, this one holding a notebook. “Are you Anna O’Brien? The map librarian?”

“Yes, can I help you?” It was rare to have such urgent needs for cartographic assistance, but more men followed.

“Would you like to comment on Representative Callahan’s arrest? Were you here to witness the event?”

“Are you a reporter?” she asked. Good heavens, there seemed to be so many of them . . . four, plus the photographer. All these strangers crowding into the room set her teeth on edge. A wiry man with bushy red hair stepped farther into the room.

“Mr. Callahan had very flattering things to say about you, miss. He said he’d been too entranced to leave your side—”

“No, enthralled was the word he used,” another reporter chimed in.

“Enthralled! Even better.” The redheaded man scribbled in his notebook while others began filling the room. One of them stood over her desk, lifting her blotter and examining her belongings.

“Those are my things,” she sputtered. “My personal things . . .”

She wanted to drag the man back from her desk, but she was distracted by another photographer, who was pushing a century-old globe aside in order to set up a tripod in the corner.

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