Carole and Joe had come out of the closet by then, and Jessie was happy for them about their romance. She didn’t envy them, and didn’t want one of her own. She was happy with her kids. And Carole and Joe always asked about Lily. Bill said she was doing well and having fun—he could hardly wait for her to come home for Thanksgiving. And Jessie knew that Chris felt the same way—she could tell by the way he asked about Lily. He admitted to getting calls and texts from her, but he missed her.
And Jessie was aware how much Teddy missed her too. He had convinced his parents to let him transfer to The Lily Pad, and after they researched it, they agreed. Jessie had spoken to them at length, and they were intelligent and thorough. He had moved into The Lily Pad right before Halloween and had arrived in a bumblebee costume he had painted himself and delighted the younger children.
There were two boys his age in residence and one girl, and one boy slightly older. Teddy was enjoying hanging out with them when he wasn’t at school, working in the art room, or playing rugby. He was busy at DU. And The Lily Pad was booming. They had twenty patients at the moment, and were expecting more in the coming weeks. They were almost ready to open the second residence hall, as soon as they hired more staff. Teddy was helping with the art program with the younger children on weekends, and they all loved him.
Everything was going smoothly on all fronts. And Jessie had invited everyone to dinner for Thanksgiving, Joe and Carole, Teddy, Phil Lewis who had nowhere to go, Bill and Lily, and all four of her children. She was planning a festive meal and going to cook it herself, even though she was on call. And Carole promised to fill in for her as chef and hostess if she had to go to work.
When Lily came home on Wednesday night, she was treated like a returning movie star. Her father had sent a plane for her, which she had admitted to no one at school—she pretended she was taking a flight from Newark.
Chris came to see her at the house late that night, and her father couldn’t get enough of her the next day before they went to Jessie’s house for turkey dinner. And all of Jessie’s children were happy to see her, as were the adults. Everyone had missed her. She announced at dinner that she had decided on her major. She was going to take psych, and wanted to go for a Ph.D. afterward and become a psychologist like Carole, to work with SCI kids, hopefully at The Lily Pad. Her father was proud of her when he heard it, and hoped she’d find somewhere closer to home to get her Ph.D. But that was still a long way off.
They were talking about it as she held hands with Chris under the table, when Jessie’s BlackBerry rang, and they called her in. They had a new intake they needed her to see and assess.
“Well, that’s the end of me,” Jessie said with a big smile, looking at Carole. “You can take over from here.” They had had turkey, but not yet dessert, and everyone had enjoyed the meal so far. Jessie had set a beautiful table and prepared a delicious meal with Heather’s help. She and her mother were back on good terms now. She still missed Squaw, but loved her new school and had a boyfriend who was making Denver fun for her, and she was making lots of new friends and keeping in touch with her old ones.
The desserts were already lined up on the kitchen table. It was easy for Carole to serve them once Jessie left. Heather and Lily helped her, as did Chris. And while they cleared the table for dessert, Heather told Lily how much she loved her school. Lily was happy to hear it. And then she turned to Chris and asked him if he wanted to go skiing the next day, and he was thrilled. There was already snow in Winter Park, and Lily had been aching to ski.
There were a million things she wanted to do while she was home, most of them with Chris, and a few with her father. He realized as he listened to her how grown up she had gotten. Things had already subtly shifted. She wasn’t his little girl anymore. She was her own woman, and Chris’s to some degree, but mostly her own. Chris could see it too, but he was growing up too. They seemed more like a couple now than they had before she left, and Bill wondered if it was “official.”
They all left before Jessie got back, and Bill had invited everyone to Christmas dinner at their house. And the whole group looked pleased with the invitation. He and Lily went home then and chatted about what a nice Thanksgiving it had been. And she yawned as soon as she got in. The house felt different to him, just knowing she was there. With Lily at home, it was a much warmer place to be. Without her, he felt lost, but he didn’t say it to her. He was trying to grow up too.
She went skiing with Chris the next day, and they went out to dinner after she visited with Teddy. And on Saturday Bill took Lily and Chris to dinner with Jessie. Her other children had other plans, and sleepovers, and Heather was out with her boyfriend. So the four of them went out for a quiet dinner, and then Chris and Lily sat in the den at her house, talking. And on Sunday morning, she left. It was all over much too quickly, as Bill said to Jessie on Monday.
“How does it end so quickly? One minute they’re babies, and the next they’re grown up. I feel like I missed the whole movie.”
“You didn’t,” Jessie reassured him. “You’re still in it. You just don’t know it. It’s not over yet.” And then they talked about The Lily Pad and her intakes over the weekend. Bill was aware of each child that was there. They discussed every aspect of the center with each other. Jessie had her Colorado license by then, but she had done nothing about entering another practice. She hadn’t had time yet. The Lily Pad kept her too busy.
The next weeks flew by, and three weeks after Thanksgiving, Lily was home for Christmas vacation, and this time Bill knew she’d be home for two weeks, so he was more relaxed about being with her.
And on Christmas Eve, they all sat together at Bill and Lily’s table. She and Chris had put a tree up, under Teddy’s artistic direction, and they all shared a Christmas feast. Bill thought, as he sat there, that it had been the fastest year of his life. So much had happened. Lily had won the silver medal, The Lily Pad had opened, Jessie had moved to Denver, Carole and Joe had fallen in love, Chris and Lily were a couple, Lily was at Princeton. It had been an amazing year.
Chapter 29
IF THE YEAR before had gone quickly, the months between December and June virtually flew by. They opened the second residential house, and had thirty-two patients at The Lily Pad. Jessie gave up the idea of joining a local practice, she had no time, although she wasn’t sure she wanted to give up surgery. By June, Chris had finished two years of college, Teddy and Lily their first year, and Heather was about to graduate and attend UC Santa Barbara in the fall. And Carole was planning a gala to benefit The Lily Pad, in October, with Joe’s help. She had given up her apartment and moved in with Joe. All of their lives seemed to be moving at dizzying speed, and Bill was slowly getting used to Lily being away, and the idea that she was growing up, painful as it was.
She had helped them organize their annual sports competition, from Princeton. They had five coaches under the direction of Phil Lewis, and the event was planned for November, on the Thanksgiving weekend, so people from out of town could easily attend. There would be medals given in every category.
The Monet water lilies looked spectacular hanging at the entrance to The Lily Pad, and Teddy’s painting hung near it. And Bill had had a black granite wall installed, also near the entrance, with the names of their biggest donors, to honor their contributions. He had called it “The Winners’ Circle,” and Steve Jansen had just finished it. In time, they planned to put their sports medal winners on the wall too. Bill went to look at the wall with Jessie, and they listed donors from platinum to bronze. Jessie stood looking at it with awe, and Bill was pleased.
“Your name should be up there,” she said to Bill as she smiled at him.
“No, it shouldn’t. I’m not really a donor, in that sense,” he said modestly. “All these people have given us money to do something very special here. I’m the founder. That’s not the same.”
“You made us all winners,” she said gently. “Without you, none of this would have happened.”
�
��And without you, it couldn’t exist.”
“Yes, it could. You’d have found some other neurosurgeon, overpaid him or her, offered them a fabulous house, lured them to Denver, and given them the opportunity of a lifetime to do something wonderful for SCI kids and help them lead amazing lives when they leave.” It was what had happened to Lily at Craig, and now it was happening here too. And Lily was off to a great life. But so was everyone there, loving what they did. “You gave us the greatest gift of all, purpose, passion, joy.” She was still smiling when they walked back to her office, and she turned and saw that he was looking at her strangely as she glanced up at him.
“Jessie …” His voice was very gentle as he walked toward her and stood close to her. “Don’t you think we’ve waited long enough?”
“For what?” She looked confused.
“For passion and joy, what you just talked about. We’ve helped everybody start their lives over, better than before. Maybe it’s our turn now. We’ve been doing this together for a year, longer if you count all the times you came to Denver before you moved here. I’ve been waiting for you for all this time.” Tim had been gone for two and a half years. “I don’t want to wait anymore.” He touched her face gently then and kissed her. Her eyes opened wider, and she kissed him back as he pulled her closer into his arms and held her. He had wanted to do this for so long and had known it wasn’t the time then, but now he knew just as surely that it was. “I love you, Jessie.”
“I love you too,” she said softly, leaning against him. She didn’t have to fight anymore. She wasn’t alone. They were together. They were winners, just like the others. The Lily Pad had blessed them all.
About the Author
Danielle Steel is one of the world’s most popular and highly acclaimed authors, with more than eighty international bestselling novels in print and over 600 million copies sold. She is also the author of His Bright Light, the story of her son Nick Traina’s life and death, and the memoir A Gift of Hope. She lives in California and Paris.
To discover more about Danielle Steel and her books visit her website at www.daniellesteel.com
And don’t forget to join her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/DanielleSteelOfficial
Also by Danielle Steel
FIRST SIGHT
UNTIL THE END OF TIME
SINS OF THE MOTHER
FRIENDS FOREVER
BETRAYAL
HOTEL VENDÔME
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
44 CHARLES STREET
LEGACY
FAMILY TIES
BIG GIRL
SOUTHERN LIGHTS
MATTERS OF THE HEART
ONE DAY AT A TIME
A GOOD WOMAN
ROGUE
HONOUR THYSELF
AMAZING GRACE
BUNGALOW 2
SISTERS
H.R.H.
COMING OUT
THE HOUSE
TOXIC BACHELORS
MIRACLE
IMPOSSIBLE
ECHOES
SECOND CHANCE
RANSOM
SAFE HARBOUR
JOHNNY ANGEL
DATING GAME
ANSWERED PRAYERS
SUNSET IN ST. TROPEZ
THE COTTAGE
THE KISS
LEAP OF FAITH
LONE EAGLE
JOURNEY
THE HOUSE ON HOPE STREET
THE WEDDING
IRRESISTIBLE FORCES
GRANNY DAN
BITTERSWEET
MIRROR IMAGE
HIS BRIGHT LIGHT:
The Story of my son, Nick Traina
THE KLONE AND I
THE LONG ROAD HOME
THE GHOST
SPECIAL DELIVERY
THE RANCH
SILENT HONOUR
MALICE
FIVE DAYS IN PARIS
LIGHTNING
WINGS
THE GIFT
ACCIDENT
VANISHED
MIXED BLESSINGS
JEWELS
NO GREATER LOVE
HEARTBEAT
MESSAGE FROM NAM
DADDY
STAR
ZOYA
KALEIDOSCOPE
FINE THINGS
WANDERLUST
SECRETS
FAMILY ALBUM
FULL CIRCLE
CHANGES
THURSTON HOUSE
CROSSINGS
ONCE IN A LIFETIME
A PERFECT STRANGER
REMEMBRANCE
PALOMINO
LOVE: POEMS
THE RING
LOVING
TO LOVE AGAIN
SUMMER’S END
SEASON OF PASSION
THE PROMISE
NOW AND FOREVER
GOLDEN MOMENTSfn1
GOING HOME
Fn1 Published outside the UK under the title PASSION’S PROMISE
For more information on Danielle Steel and her books, see her website at
www.daniellesteel.com
TRANSWORLD PUBLISHERS
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First published in the United States
in 2013 by Delacorte Press
an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group
First published in Great Britain
in 2013 by Bantam Press
an imprint of Transworld Publishers
Copyright © 2013 Danielle Steel
Danielle Steel has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.
This book is a work of fiction and, except in the case of historical fact, any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Version 1.0 Epub ISBN 9781409092223
ISBN 9780593063187 (cased)
9780593063194 (tpb)
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