Читаем Echoes полностью

Echoes

“No. I can't. I know that now. I knew it before you left, that's why I told you that I love you …” She looked sad for a moment then as she held his hand. But she knew now that she belonged here, with him, and their kinders, whichever ones stayed in the end. “I always thought I'd go back to the convent,” she said sadly. But too much had happened. Too many people, too many lives, too many people she had contributed to killing, even if she had done it to save others. And now she wanted to be here with him. But it no longer seemed wrong. It seemed very right. And the only choice she could make. She could never have left him, although the convent and all it had meant to her would remain forever in her heart. It had been a difficult decision, but she felt pleased and relieved with the end results. While he had been away, she knew more than ever how much she loved him.

“I was so afraid you'd go back, and I didn't want to interfere with what you wanted,” Rupert said kindly.

“Thank you for respecting that.” She looked at him with eyes full of love. She had been so sure that she would always be a nun, and now she was his, in all the ways she had never dared to dream.

“I would have let you go if it was really what you wanted, and it made you happy… but that seems like a long time ago. Now, I couldn't bear it,” he said as he pulled her close to him and held her. So often in the past three months, he had been so desperately afraid that he would never come home to her, and she had been afraid of the same thing. Finally, after all they'd been through, they both knew this was right. They had both crossed lifetimes to get here, lost people they loved, stared death in the face too many times. They had earned all that they had found.

He carried her up the stairs that night after they put the lights out. She still couldn't walk stairs easily, but she would in time. They hesitated on the landing, and he kissed her, and then with a shy smile she said good-night and he laughed. This was not Paris and the peach nightgown. This was real life. They both knew what had to happen, and that it would soon, in the right way, at the right time. They had the rest of their lives.

A PRIEST MARRIED THEM, AND A RABBI SAID A BLESSING, AS the children stood all around them. They were the first children they had shared, and they both knew that many of them would stay with them. And with luck, they would have children of their own, although his lost sons would never be forgotten. Amadea had finally taken her final vows, the ones she had been meant to take, though not the ones she had expected. Life with its twists and turns, terrors and pains and blessings, had led them to each other, through tortuous paths, to a peaceful place at last. They had found each other, amidst the echoes of all those they had once loved and who had loved them.

ABOUT THE AUTHORDANIELLE STEEL has been hailed as one of the world's most popular authors, with over 530 million copies of her novels sold. Her many international bestsellers include Miracle, ImPossible, Echoes, Second Chance, Ransom, Safe Harbour, Johnny Angel, and other highly acclaimed novels. She is also the author of His Bright Light, the story of her son Nick Traina's life and death.Visit the Danielle Steel Web Site

at www.daniellesteel.com.

ECHOES

A Dell Book

Published by

Bantam Dell

A Division of Random House, Inc.

New York, New York

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either

are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any

resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is

entirely coincidental.

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2003062523