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- Gordon Lucy Bracia Rinucci 03 Wloskie zareczyny
- 0032. Monroe Lucy Grecki magnat
- Clark Lucy Ĺťycie na walizkach
- Bova, Ben Twice Seven
- Harbison Elizabeth Wszystko zostaje w rodzinie
- R. A. Haasler Zbrodnie w imieniu Chrystusa
- Asimov, Isaac Robots and Aliens 1 Changeling
- CzubiśÂski Antoni [red] II Wojna śÂwiatowa i jej nastćÂpstwa
- Celia Kyle [Strange Hollow] Can't Bear It (pdf)
- Christie Agatha śÂmierć w chmurach
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he needs.
Wait a minute, Anne said, staring down at the envelope. She looked back at the man at the
door. I don t understand.
That s your problem, lady. Have a nice day.
He walked off, leaving Anne standing there, trying to make sense of what had just happened.
Have a nice day? She d been having a nice day. The best day ever, and now&
Her eyes were starting to blur with tears as Gareth put his arms around her and took her into the
living room. His voice was gentle. I m sorry, I should have warned you, but
You should have warned me? Suddenly, Anne felt as if the hardwood floor beneath her was
falling away. You knew?
Anne tried to ignore the negative feelings the way she had so many times before in her life, but
this time it was like trying to plug the Hoover Dam with her finger.
She pushed back from Gareth and stared at him like she didn t even know him. Because right
then, she wasn t sure she did.
Especially when he said, Yes, Anne, I knew.
You knew and you didn t say anything? Each word felt brittle as it fell from her lips. How
could you let them blindside me like this?
At first, I didn t say anything about it because I couldn t. I had a legal obligation not to.
And rules are rules, Anne said, half turning away from him as she felt the tears starting to
well up in her eyes.
Years worth of tears, all the ones she d managed to hold back through her sheer determination
to be happy, rushed at her.
I tried to tell you, he insisted.
When? When did you try?
I needed to find a way to tell you that wouldn t hurt so much, but it was so hard, and I couldn t
figure out how to do it last night. I hoped it would be easier in the morning, that I could find a way to
explain it without hurting you.
Anne whirled back toward him, her hands balling into fists. You think that this doesn t hurt?
Oh God, it hurt.
So much, like her parents had died all over again. For years, Anne had worked so hard to press
that pain down, the depths of hurt that drowned her every time she tried to breathe. She d only
managed it by remembering how much her parents had loved one another. By clinging to that
knowledge as tightly as she could.
But it had been a lie.
All of it.
Jasmine and her lawyer wouldn t ask for a DNA test if they thought there was even the remotest
possibility that Edward Farleigh wasn t Jasmine s father. Which meant that all the time her father had
claimed to love her mother so much, all the time their marriage had seemed so perfect, he d been
having an affair with some other woman.
And had been the father of another little girl.
Anne, Gareth began, reaching out to touch her shoulder.
Leave me alone!
Anne had wanted to believe that she and Gareth had found the same magical love as her
parents. But now she knew that the two of them were just as big a lie as her parents had been.
Because the whole time that she was in Gareth s arms and he was kissing her and sharing her bed,
he d known what was going to happen.
In her rush to get away from him, she crashed into her mother s wedding gown on the dress
stand.
Wedding dresses were a symbol of two people promising to love one another. Promising to be
faithful to one another. Anne had made her living stitching together a symbol of perfect love, but now
she knew that love was the biggest lie of all.
I hate this stupid thing!
She tore the dress from the stand, wanting to tear it into rags, then burn those rags like the
meaningless scraps of fabric they were. Her fingers ripped at it, pulling apart seams and opening up
lines of stitching like wounds.
And yet, none of it, none of the mess she d just made of the once-beautiful dress, looked as bad
as she felt right then.
Anne! What are you doing?
He caught her arms and pulled her back from the dress, holding her against his chest.
Anne fought to break free from him. She wasn t going to let herself cry in his arms the way she
had before. And she definitely wasn t going to let him promise her that everything would be all right.
Nothing was all right& and wouldn t ever be again.
Let. Me. Go.
I know how upset you are right now, Gareth said as she pushed away from him, but don t
keep destroying your mother s dress. Not when I know how much it means to you.
You don t know anything about me, Anne snapped back, letting herself lash out for the first
time in her life. I was stupid enough to think I loved you, but love is just a word, isn t it? Just
something people say to try to feel better about their pointless lives.
That s not what love is, Gareth insisted.
No, you re right, Anne said. Love isn t even that, because it doesn t make you feel better. It
just tears you up inside.
Gareth reached out to put his hands on her waist and wouldn t let her evade his touch no matter
how she tried. You have to keep believing in love.
Why should I, when it s just another lie?
Because love is real.
And how could you possibly know that?
He didn t hesitate. Because I love you.
A part of Anne wanted so desperately to believe him. Because if she could believe in his love,
then maybe&
No, she wasn t going to put her faith in any more fairy tales. She couldn t.
She broke free of his grip. Get out, Gareth. Just& get out.
Anne
Get out!
A few seconds later, when the door closed behind him with a soft click, Anne collapsed on the
pile of ripped and ruined fabric from her mother s wedding dress and cried every last one of the tears
she d held back since she was a little girl standing at the window with her mother watching the taxi
take her father away one more time.
Chapter Fifteen
Gareth waited in his car outside Richard Wells s office until he saw the lawyer leave for the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]