Suzanne nodded. “We can do it, but let’s be honest, Ingrid. We’re wealthy women. It’s a heck of a lot easier when you don’t have to worry about money. How many women are trapped by security, or lack of it? I don’t even want to think of the numbers.”
“You’re right,” Ingrid murmured.
“I wish I wasn’t,” Suzanne answered. “That’s why I got involved with Renewal. Most of those women are single mothers. Imagine the courage it takes to restructure your life and enter the business world. How scared they must be.”
Ingrid was shaking her head. “Don’t get me started with women’s issues.”
“I won’t,” Suzanne said with a laugh. “I remember in college when you organized that protest rally for the ERA. You had me carrying banners and raising my fist—”
“And it still hasn’t passed Congress!” Ingrid interrupted. “Maybe I should get involved in civic movements again. I’m going to have a daughter. What will it be like for her?”
Matty started whimpering and Suzanne pulled him closer. “I think he’s hungry.”
“You feed him and then we’ll eat,” Ingrid said, wading toward the pool steps. “Yes, I think I’ll get involved again. It’s been too long.”
Suzanne smiled at Ingrid’s back. She was going to be okay. She was interested in life again.
An hour later, Suzanne pushed away from the table and groaned. “I’m stuffed, and I feel like I’m pregnant again. Look at my stomach!” she declared, standing up and patting her skin. “Heaven forbid anyone but a friend see me in this bathing suit!”
“You look great. You’ve gotten your figure back. I pray I’m so lucky.”
“Run around after a baby and you will. I can’t believe how active he is. I’m telling you, I’m exhausted when I get to bed.” She looked at Matty asleep in the portable crib and sighed. “But it’s worth it.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Believe it,” she whispered bending over her son. “I hate to eat and run, but I’ve got to bathe him and get him down for the night. Thanks for everything.” She picked him up and cradled him in her arms. “Can I leave the crib and get it tomorrow?”
“Sure. It will be fine out here on the patio.”
Ingrid walked her to the car, carrying her diaper bag. When she had Matty in his car seat, she closed the door and looked at her friend. “I really enjoyed myself today. Thanks for the invite.”
“Any time, Suz. Thanks for coming. It… I don’t know, felt like old times.”
Suzanne nodded as she placed a towel on the front seat. Even her shirt was still damp. Turning, she said, “Take care of yourself, Ingrid. And take care of my son’s half sister.”
Ingrid sighed. “Who’d have believed our children would be related?”
“Ingrid, if I told you everything that’s happened in the last six months, you wouldn’t believe that, either. Let’s just accept the unexplainable. It’s so much easier.”
As she drove home, Suzanne felt pretty good about the day. She was glad she had accepted the invitation to swim. Matty had been near ecstatic with the pool and it did feel like old times with Ingrid. Only better now that Kevin was no longer in the picture. She still wasn’t completely comfortable with Ingrid, but it was a work in progress and she had no idea what the final result would be.
When she came to the river, she made the turn toward her house and was startled to see a car parked in her driveway. Who could be waiting for… Her breath caught in her throat. Her heart started pounding against her rib cage. She felt like time was suspended as she pulled up behind the car and watched him get out.
She could only stare at him through the front window as he stood staring back at her. Dear God, it felt like her soul was reaching out to him. He looked so handsome dressed in a light blue tennis shirt and navy slacks. Immediately, she was aware of how she looked. Why in heavens name had she chosen this day to wear a two-piece bathing suit!
He started to walk toward her car, and she pulled the edges of her shirt together, wishing she had the time to button it. Releasing the door handle, she pushed it open and slid her legs down to the ground.
They stood, staring into each other’s eyes, neither of them saying a word. She felt her eyes start to burn, and she blinked to stop the moisture. “You came back,” she whispered, still stunned to see him before her. She had imagined it, prayed for it, and now here he was.
“I had to,” he murmured.
It felt like his eyes were devouring her, every inch of her, and she pulled the shirt around her. “Why?” She had to hear this, to put all her fears to rest.
“I missed you,” he whispered, looking toward the back of the car. “And Matty. And I realized I couldn’t live without you,” he added, gazing back at her. “No matter where I went or what I did, my life felt empty. I’m so sorry, Suzanne. I… I didn’t realize what my… my ego was costing me.”
She couldn’t help smiling. “Your ego?”
“I’ve been reading,” he muttered with a sheepish grin. “I was filled with hate and it nearly cost me you. You and Matty. Am I too late? Can you ever forgive me?”
Once more her heart was melting. “For walking away to straighten out your head? There’s nothing to forgive. A phone call would have been appreciated, though.”
“I know. I just had to work out some things.” He jammed his hands into his pockets, and looked to the driveway. “Some things I’m ashamed to admit now.”
“It was about Matty, wasn’t it?”
He raised his head. “You knew?”
“Not right away. A friend helped me to realize it. You were afraid to commit to raising Mitch’s great-grandson.”
He nodded.
“What’s changed?”
“Well, I had a friend help me to realize a few things too. The first was how stupid I was to allow my hatred for Mitch ruin what we had between us, all three of us—you, me, and Matty. I know now it was the best thing that’s ever come into my life, Suzanne. You’ve got to believe that.”
“I do, because I felt it too.”
His eyes widened, as though he was trying to keep them from filling up. “And… well, I finally realized that Matty was also a greater part of you and of Grace and… I love the lad, Suzanne. I can’t deny what I feel. I promise you I’ll be a good father to him. You’ll not want for a better man to father your son and to be your husb—”
Crying with gratitude, she reached out and put her fingers to his mouth. “I believe you. Now, will you please stop talking and kiss me?”
She could see his whole body relax with relief as he reached for her hand.
“I’ll not kiss you until I’ve asked you this.”
“What? Dear God, what? I forgive you. I believe you,” she said, placing her hand in his and watching as he reached into his pocket.
He held up a ring, a magnificent square-cut emerald ring surrounded by diamonds.
“You were right when you said maybe love is the only thing that can last forever. And I love you, Suzanne Lawrence,” he said with tears in his eyes. “Will you marry me?”
She could barely see with the tears in her own eyes. Out here, on the driveway, dressed in a bathing suit, she felt like the luckiest woman in the world. “I will,” she whispered, and waited for him to slip the ring on her finger.
“There’s more.”
“Oh… more. Okay.” Sheesh, she could have waited for him to finish, but she wanted to get that “I will” in as quickly as possible!
“I’ve bought land.”
“All right.”
“I want us to live there. At least part of the time.”
“Okay.”
“It’s in Ireland.”
“Ireland!” She was stunned.
“I bought back my family’s land,” he said, pausing for a moment as though steadying himself before beginning again. “Will you come with me to Ireland, to the green hills and the running waves? Will you marry me, be my wife, and raise our son amid the deep peace of the fl
owing air and smiling stars? Will you honor me by allowing me to cherish you both for all my days and nights?”
Her jaw dropped.
“You want more?”
“I want you, wherever you are. I want to be with you, Charlie.”
He slid the ring onto her finger and then pulled her into his arms.
“Now you’ll kiss me?” she breathed in anticipation.
“Now I’ll kiss you, lass. Soundly.”
And he did.
Suzanne felt her body melt into his while such joy rushed through her body that she almost couldn’t contain it. “I love you, Charlie Garrity,” she murmured against his lips when the kiss broke. “I will love you until the end of time. We are meant to be together, you and I. I’ll live in Ireland or anywhere else you want—just as long as we’re never apart again.”
He held her close to his chest and kissed the top of her head. “I traveled seventy-five years to find you. I’m not about to let anything ever come between us again.”
“Technically, I found you, but that doesn’t matter.”
She felt his laughter in his chest. “C’mon, let’s get the sleeping boy into the house. I have a burning need to see you in better light. That bathing suit. I shall make short work of removing it, for this time, Suzanne, neither heaven, nor earth nor even time itself can keep me from claiming you.”
“I like the sound of this,” she said with a giggle as Charlie opened up the back door of the car. She watched as he leaned in and unbuckled Matty and then held him to his chest as the baby whimpered at being disturbed. “Come along, Matty. Go back to sleep now. Your mother and I have unfinished business. She will never know how hard it was to hold her that last night we were together. Ever since then I have been dreaming about making her my own. But you’ll understand these things when you get older, lad.”
“Such talk for a baby.”
“He’s sleeping. He knows I’m back,” Charlie whispered, and kissed Matty’s forehead.
With one arm around her and the other holding the child, he walked them up to the front door. Suzanne felt like her feet were barely touching the ground as happiness moved her along. They were together. A family. Sighing with contentment, she knew the truth of the old saying.
You are where you are meant to be at any given moment.
All they had to do was realize that moment was here and now.
AFTERWORD
Come to the edge
Life said.
They said:
We are afraid.
Come to the edge
Life said.
They came.
It pushed them…
And
they
Flew.
Guillaume Apollinaire
1870-1918
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to acknowledge the staff of HarperCollins, especially Lyssa Keusch, my editor; Helen Breitwieser, my agent; and Cristopher Sterling, my partner. Their contributions have been invaluable and always appreciated. And thanks also to Colleen Quinn Bosler, sister of my soul, for her encouragement and her gift of friendship.
All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2001 by Constance O’Day-Flannery
Cover design by Open Road Integrated Media
ISBN 978-1-4976-3175-5
This edition published in 2014 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
345 Hudson Street
New York, NY 10014
www.openroadmedia.com
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