A Night to Remember by Adrienne Basso

war.
    Consequently at dinner he kept the conversation focused on neutral topics and was rather proud of himself for completely ignoring two of his father’s jibes. Of course Eleanor’s concerned looks and anxious expression helped keep Joshua focused on his goal.
    Eleanor was turning out to be a strong ally. He appreciated her quiet acceptance of the situation and her gracious compliance with his request for help. And as dinner progressed he came to realize more and more how lucky he was to have her with him this weekend.
    Both his father and Rosemary seemed very taken with Eleanor. Joshua rubbed his fingers on the stem of his wineglass and smiled. Hell, it didn’t take a genius to see that they probably liked her a whole lot more than they liked him.
    He took a bite of his crab cake and gazed across the table at her. Despite the formal dining room setting where the four of them sat beneath two Waterford crystal chandeliers at a table that could easily seat twenty people, it was a casual dinner. There were no hovering servants, no complicated table settings, no elaborate courses with dramatic presentations.
    Instead all of Joshua’s favorite childhood foods had been served, and he wondered briefly who had been responsible for the selection. The family cook?
    â€œTell me a little bit about your books, Rosemary,” Joshua said as one of the younger maids cleared the dinner plates. “Where do you get your story ideas?”
    Rosemary’s eyes widened in astonishment. She swallowed the food in her mouth and gave him a weak smile. “Actually, many of my books are inspired by moments from my own childhood. I was never blessed with children, so when I first started writing my editor suggested that I take the deepest, darkest, most embarrassing secret about myself and put a humorous twist on it.
    â€œNaturally it was hard to choose just one.” Rosemary’s smile widened. “However, I eventually decided to write a story about sibling rivalry and I realized that being honest about my actions, reactions, and emotions to the unexpected arrival of a baby sister gave the story the one element my manuscript ideas had been missing. Total honesty.”
    Rosemary looked directly at him as she spoke, and Joshua had to struggle to resist squirming in his seat. She was speaking about her books, yet it was as though she realized how fraudulent he had been with his actions, reactions, and emotions toward his father.
    Joshua smiled at Rosemary, trying to demonstrate how cool and unaffected he was by her words, but it wasn’t easy. Her perceptive writer’s eyes saw far too much for his comfort and her comment held just enough truth to make him feel guilty.
    â€œDid you always want to be a writer?” Eleanor jumped in eagerly.
    Joshua sighed with relief. Eleanor to the rescue once again. Clearly she had been waiting for the opportunity to start asking her idol Rosemary all sorts of questions about her books but had been too polite or shy to introduce the topic.
    Rosemary turned away from him and smiled pleasantly at Eleanor. “I had no interest in writing of any sort when I was a college student. My dream had always been to be an artist. I studied fine art for years, but after unsuccessfully trying to support myself by painting, I ended up designing and selling greeting cards to pay the rent. My work was brought to the attention of a book publisher by a good friend and I was invited to try my hand at illustrating a children’s book.
    â€œIt was a lot more difficult than I thought it would be, but the publisher was very pleased with the results. I was given steady work and continued doing the drawings for three different authors. Eventually I was offered the opportunity to create my own story. I struggled quite a bit, but truly enjoyed the challenge.
    â€œThe book received encouraging reviews, so I wrote a second, then a third. Gradually I discovered that writing and illustrating