The Dogs of Winter
Page 27
“Roméo—I…I decided I’d sell the place and we’d start fresh—somewhere between here and St. Jerome like we talked about. I’m okay with that. I am.”
Roméo started to shake his head, like he was disagreeing with her. “I swore I would never do this again as long as I live…but….” Then he slid off the sofa, rested gingerly on one knee and faced Marie. From his pocket he removed a little box. He opened it. Inside was a thin gold band with a single stone—an emerald—Marie’s favorite. It was understated and elegant, just like the man offering it.
“Marie Lapierre Russell, would you make a better man of me and agree to marry me?”
Marie was so utterly astonished by this turn of events, so completely gobsmacked—all she could do was laugh. Really laugh. A big belly laugh, the one Roméo knew so well and especially loved, because he himself so rarely was able to produce one. This time though, Roméo joined Marie, and they both laughed and laughed until they wept.
Dedication
For David, Alice, and Isaac, always.
Acknowledgments
Thank you to the many people whose coverage of the several issues examined in this book provided so much crucial detail and information, and thanks to the people too many to name here who shine a brilliant and healing light in this world.
https://www.cinemapolitica.org/fr/film/qimmit-clash-two-truths (Sled Dog Shootings)
https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/mutual-respect-means-inuit-feel-at-home-in-city-of-dorval/ (Interview with Annie)
https://www.forbes.com/sites/debbikickham/2019/02/12/tahiti-is-a-hot-new-travel-trend-for-2019/#3b665f22230e (Gennifer reading Tahiti article)
https://www.cbc.ca/cbcdocspov/features/inuit-defend-canadas-seal-hunt
(Roméo remembering seal hunt)
Chapter Fifty-Two opening lines (“When a Nunavik….”)
are from: https://nunatsiaq.com/stories/article/65674
nunavik_communities_struggle_to_bring_inuit_who_die_in_the_south_/
I consulted the above site and a few others:
https://www.nationalobserver.com/2017/10/16/news/branded-how-inuit-women-montreal-end-street-or-dead
Wīcihtāsowin: Building Bridges to Understanding | Nakuset | TEDxMontrealWomen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chZ1NZednsA
Books consulted:
Wild Blue: A Natural History of the World’s Largest Animal, Dan Bortolotti, Thomas Allen, 2009
The Whale: In Search of the Giants of the Sea, Philip Hoare, Harper Collins, 2010
To my early readers, thank you for your insight, kindness, generosity of time and spirit:
Alice Abracen, Isaac Abracen, Harriet Corbett, Michaela Di Cesare, Lia Hadley, Debra Kirshenbaum, Anne Lagacé Dowson, Michelle Le Donne, Maila Shanks, Rebecca Million, Laura Mitchell, Richard Mozer, Susan Mozer, Michelle Payette-Daoust.
To Sasha Mandy for his expertise.
To Cindy Woods for sharing her experience.
To Kathryn Cole, Gillian Rodgerson, and all the people at Second Story Press.
About the Author
During the course of her almost thirty years at Montreal’s Dawson College, ANN LAMBERT has taught English literature to literally thousands of students. For the last twelve years, she has co-written, directed, and produced plays with the Dawson Theatre Collective. The Collective is proud of the fact that they welcome students from all backgrounds and abilities, often have casts as large as thirty-five, and play to enthusiastic and non-traditional theater audiences every year.
Ann has been writing and directing stage and radio plays for thirty-five years. Several of them—Two Short Women, The Mary Project (with Laura Mitchell), Very Heaven, Parallel Lines, Self Offense, The Wall, Force of Circumstance, The Pilgrimage, and Welcome Chez Ray have been produced in Canada, the United States, Ireland, Greece, Australia, and Sweden. Ann is the co-artistic director of Right Now! which produced her plays Two Short Women, The Assumption of Empire, Jocasta’s Noose and The Guest, by Alice Abracen. From 2001–2005, Ann adapted and directed plays for The Roslyn Players, a children’s theater company that specialized in performing Shakespeare’s plays. From 2002–2004, Ann headed the Playwriting Program at the National Theatre School of Canada. In the spring of 2019, she launched a new theater company called Theatre Ouest End in Montreal.
Ann is also the vice-president of The Theresa Foundation (www.theresafoundation.com), dedicated to supporting AIDS-orphaned children and their grandmothers in several villages in Malawi, Africa.
Copyright
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Title: The dogs of winter / Ann Lambert.
Names: Lambert, Ann, 1957- author.
Description: Series statement: A Russell and Leduc mystery
Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20200209159 | Canadiana (ebook) 20200209167 | ISBN 9781772601404
(softcover) | ISBN 9781772601411 (EPUB)
Classification: LCC PS8573.A3849 D64 2020 | DDC C813/.54—dc23
Copyright © 2020 by Ann Lambert
Cover art © 2020 by Natalie Olsen
Cover photo: Laine Neimane / Alamy Stock Photo
Printed and bound in Canada
Second Story Press gratefully acknowledges the support of the
Ontario Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts for our
publishing program. We acknowledge the financial support of the
Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund.
Published by
Second Story Press
20 Maud Street, Suite 401
Toronto, ON M5V 2M5
www.secondstorypress.ca