Another Life

by Rosemary Carter

  'My God!' he groaned, when she had finished.

  'If only I'd known! I loved you, Sara. Didn't you think I knew what was best for me? How could you have believed Belinda?'

  'It… seemed to make sense.'

  'I don't care for self-sacrificing females.' His breath fanned her cheek, and she could feel the beat of his heart strong and rhythmic against her chest as he gathered her close to him. 'But I love you. God, Sara, when I think how close I came to losing you altogether!'

  'It was just a coincidence that you should have come into the Antique Den when I was there,' Sara marvelled. 'A few days earlier and Lynn would have served you.'

  'Coincidence? I wonder…' Clyde's eyes narrowed thoughtfully. 'I've just remembered, there was a note…'

  'A note?'

  'From a Miss Anderson. Your Lynn, I take it?' And when Sara nodded. 'Telling me I might be interested in an antique tea-set that would be arriving a week later.'

  Sara looked at him uncomprehendingly. 'I don't understand. The silver had been there two months or more.' Her eyes widened. 'Do you think Lynn meant us to meet?'

  'I'd say so.'

  'Why, the schemer!'

  'More like a wonderful friend,' Clyde said softly. 'She must have banked on my falling in love with you all over again the moment I saw you.'

  'Was she right?' Sara slanted him a radiant smile.

  He drew a breath. 'Only partly, my darling. Because you see, I'd never stopped loving you.'

  He pushed her a little away from him and looked down at her. 'Don't look at me like that or I might end up making love to you in a hospital bed, and that would never do. Sara, do you know that I'll never let you go again?'

  She was suddenly breathless. 'You want me to be your mistress?'

  His eyes gleamed. 'Will you?'

  'Yes,' she said simply, and forgot that she had agreed to a similar proposition two years earlier. And then, remembering Andrea for the first time, she clapped a hand to her mouth. 'Oh, Clyde, no, I can't…'

  'Why not?' She heard the bubble of laughter.

  'You're married,' she said dully.

  'Sara! My lovely Sara.' His voice was ragged. 'Darling, it's my turn to explain. I haven't been honest with you either. All this time you thought I was married. I did marry Andrea—not for the reasons you imagined, but because I was angry, lonely. It didn't work out. Andrea couldn't stand it any more than I could. I couldn't forget you. Sara darling, I'm divorced.'

  She stared at him, eyes luminous, trying to make sense of what he was saying. 'You're not married?' she managed at last.

  'I haven't been for almost a year. But I will be. I was only teasing you just now. Darling, you will marry me?'

  She was trembling again. More happiness than she could grasp, but it had come too late. 'I don't know if I can have children,' she said quietly.

  'I want you. Besides, we could adopt a child. Jenny has been very ill, but she may have gone into remission. How would you feel about having her as a daughter?'

  'Oh, Clyde, need you ask?' Green eyes were radiant. 'When can we tell her?'

  'Later.' He pulled her to him once more, his lips covering her face, her throat, her ears, stirring up all the old longing. 'I love you,' he groaned.

  The lips that returned to hers prevented her from telling him that she had never stopped loving him either. For a moment she struggled in his arms, then she relaxed. She would tell him later. There would be so much time to talk. All their lives, in fact.