“This man is a POW!” she shouted at someone who didn’t care, and then suddenly a strong pair of arms dragged him up and free of the crowd and pushed him into the chopper, and suddenly with a huge push, she was in it just behind him, and they were pulled to safety as they headed to the open seas, and she was suddenly reminded of the Dustoffs that had saved the wounded men. And now they were free, as Viet Nam shrank slowly behind them. There were people still screaming as they left, people crying, people begging. People who would die and be killed. But she couldn’t help them anymore. She had written about them. She had been there off and on for seven years. She had done everything she could for them. And it had been too long. It had cost too much. Too many had died. But at least not Tony. She looked at him in disbelief as he lay in her arms, battered, bruised, scarred, almost unrecognizable. But it was he, and he smiled at her as they began their descent toward the deck of the carrier and safety.
“Where the hell have you been?” he grinned with his dirt-covered face. He had lived in tunnels he had made and found and used for the past two years, and he had survived by wiles and horrors she couldn’t have dared to think of. And now, by sheer miracle, by nothing more than chance, or the hand of God, he had found her.
“I’ve been looking for you,” she said softly, gently brushing the dirt from his face. He had hidden in a wagon full of earth and dirt on the way into the city. “I’ve been looking for you for a long, long time, mister …” And so had Joey.
“Welcome home,” a voice said, as someone helped them down. “Welcome home!” the voices said as they were welcomed to safety from the chopper, and Tony stood there and cried as she held him in her arms, and their flag soared overhead, and he whispered in the din.
“I love you, Delta Delta …”
At eleven o’clock the next day, on April 30, 1975, Saigon fell, and the South Vietnamese surrendered to the North. The battle we had fought for and with them for so long was over.
And on the USS Blue Ridge, Paxton and Tony steamed toward home, and their son, and the world they had lost for too long. A world they had all but forgotten. But Nam was gone now. A distant memory … a nightmare … a dream. For them, and everyone else, now, it was finally over.
Published by
Dell Publishing
a division of
Random House, Inc.
Copyright © 1990 by Danielle Steel
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law. For information address: Delacorte Press, New York, New York.
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eISBN: 978-0-307-56665-2
May 1991
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Message from Nam Page 38
