True Love

by Lurlene McDaniel

  YOU’LL WANT TO READ THESE INSPIRING TITLES BY

  LURLENE MCDANIEL

  ANGELS IN PINK

  Kathleen’s Story

  Raina’s Story

  Holly’s Story

  ONE LAST

  WISH NOVELS

  Mourning Song

  A Time to Die

  Mother, Help Me Live

  Someone Dies, Someone Lives

  Sixteen and Dying

  Let Him Live

  The Legacy: Making Wishes

  Come True

  Please Don’t Die

  She Died Too Young

  All the Days of Her Life

  A Season for Goodbye

  Reach for Tomorrow

  OTHER

  OMNIBUS EDITIONS

  The End of Forever

  Always and Forever

  The Angels Trilogy

  As Long As We Both Shall Live

  Journey of Hope

  One Last Wish: Three Novels

  OTHER FICTION

  Breathless

  Hit and Run

  Prey

  Briana’s Gift

  Letting Go of Lisa

  The Time Capsule

  Garden of Angels

  A Rose for Melinda

  Telling Christina Goodbye

  How Do I Love Thee: Three Stories

  To Live Again

  Angel of Mercy

  Angel of Hope

  Starry, Starry Night: Three

  Holiday Stories

  The Girl Death Left Behind

  Angels Watching Over Me

  Lifted Up by Angels

  For Better, for Worse, Forever

  Until Angels Close My Eyes

  Till Death Do Us Part

  I’ll Be Seeing You

  Saving Jessica

  Don’t Die, My Love

  Too Young to Die

  Goodbye Doesn’t Mean Forever

  Somewhere Between Life and Death

  Time to Let Go

  Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep

  When Happily Ever After Ends

  Baby Alicia Is Dying

  From every ending comes a new beginning.…

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Don’t Die, My Love copyright © 1995 by Lurlene McDaniel

  I’ll Be Seeing You copyright © 1996 by Lurlene McDaniel

  A Rose for Melinda copyright © 2002 by Lurlene McDaniel

  All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York. This omnibus edition comprises Don’t Die, My Love; I’ll Be Seeing You; and A Rose for Melinda, originally published separately in paperback in the United States by Bantam Books, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, in 1995, 1996, and 2002, respectively.

  Delacorte Press is a registered trademark and the colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc.

  Visit us on the Web! www.randomhouse.com/teens

  Educators and librarians, for a variety of teaching tools, visit us at www.randomhouse.com/teachers

  eISBN: 978-0-307-80930-8

  Random House Children’s Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.

  v3.1

  Contents

  Cover

  Other Books by This Author

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Don’t Die, My Love

  I’ll Be Seeing You

  A Rose for Melinda

  About the Author

  Don’t Die,

  My Love

  1

  “I’ll get the door!” Julie Ellis called, bounding down the stairs from her bedroom. She yanked open the heavy front door to see Luke Muldenhower on her front porch. He grinned as she pulled open the glass storm door and threw herself into his arms. “I’ve missed you,” she cried, snuggling against his chest.

  “Blame your father,” he said, kissing her. “He’s the one who made the team stay for the championship game. It wasn’t fun watching the finals, feeling like it should have been us playing for the state title.”

  Indiana’s Waterton Warriors football team, whom Julie’s father coached, had made it all the way to the state football finals in their division. On Thursday, the school had shut down. Buses were chartered and most of the town had taken the trip to Indianapolis for the playoffs. Waterton had lost in the semifinals, and while the students and fans, including Julie and her mother, had returned glum and deflated, the players had remained behind until Saturday night to watch the game for first place.

  Her father had returned only hours before. And Julie had been waiting anxiously for Luke to drop his stuff at his house, then come see her. She was sorry they’d lost, not only for the sake of school pride, but because she knew how much winning meant to both Luke and her father.

  She led him into the living room, where a fire crackled in the fireplace, warding off the late-November chill, and sat him down beside her on the sofa. “Believe me, Mom and I’ve heard every detail about how bad things went for us. If only time hadn’t run out … If only Bobby Spencer had hit his man in the end zone with ten seconds left on the clock in the third quarter … If only the referee hadn’t called a holding penalty on the final play …” Julie ticked off the reasons she knew by heart. “Dad’s been over every minute of that game and why we lost it.”

  She gave Luke a pouty look. “But enough about the game. This is our first date in months that doesn’t revolve around football, and I don’t want to talk about anything except us and how wonderful you think I am.”

  He laughed and hugged her. “You’re wonderful.”

  “And?”

  “And I love you like crazy.” He pressed his forehead against hers and kissed the tip of her turned-up nose.

  “That’s better,” she said with a sly smile. “Forget about football tonight. Next year, you’ll be the senior quarterback, and you’ll take us to the state finals. For now, the season’s over. Let’s talk about the Christmas dance. It’s only three weeks away. Do we want to double with Solena and Frank? You know how they’re always fighting with each other.”

  Luke didn’t have a chance to answer, because Bud Ellis, Julie’s father, walked into the living room. “I thought I heard you come in,” the coach said.

  Instantly, Luke was on his feet, his hand outstretched. “Hey, Coach. Sorry about the game.”

  “Not your fault,” Bud Ellis insisted. “I should never have pulled you out and put Spencer in. You were doing great, but you looked tired.”

  “It’s this flu. I’m having trouble shaking it.”

  “You look like you feel all right now,” Coach said, his gaze flitting between Luke and Julie’s radiant face.

  “Julie’s good medicine,” Luke said, taking hold of her hand and pulling her up alongside him.

  “We’ve got a date,” Julie told her father. “No more football season. No more curfews.”

  “You have a curfew,” her father reminded her.

  “Curfew, shmurfew.” Julie put her hands on her hips. “Tonight we’re going bowling and then we’re going to eat a goopy, gooey hot fudge sundae, and since tomorrow’s Sunday, Luke can sleep in ’til noon before he has to come take me out to the mall.”

  “Hot fudge sundaes! Sleeping ’til noon!” Her father looked horrified. “Don’t go spoiling my prize quarterback and making him soft, Julie-girl.”

  Julie knew that would be impossible. Luke had a muscular physique to die for, made harder by the playing season plus hours of daily weight trai
ning in the gym. “The only soft thing about Luke is me,” she said with a flounce of her blond hair. “And whose side are you on anyway? I’m your flesh and blood.”

  Her father grinned and chucked her under the chin. “Yeah, but you can’t play football. And you throw like a girl.”

  She knew her dad was teasing, but still his remark stung. She was her parents’ only child. And a daughter at that. She had never doubted that her dad loved her, but Luke was clearly the son Bud Ellis had always wished he had.

  Luke reached his arm around her waist and pulled her next to him. “And I, for one, wouldn’t want it any other way. Julie’s just about perfect, I’d say.”

  She felt gratitude for his gentle defense of her. “We’re supposed to meet Solena and Frank at the bowling alley in fifteen minutes,” Julie said, glancing at the antique clock on the fireplace mantel.

  Luke helped her with her coat, and they’d gotten as far as the front door before her father said, “Some college coaches are sniffing around about you already, Luke.”

  Luke stopped and turned. “They are? Who?”

  Inwardly, Julie groaned. It was unfair of her father to hold out this carrot when he knew they were in a hurry. “Can’t you talk to Luke tomorrow about this?”

  “I could,” her dad said.

  But Luke wasn’t budging. “Tell me, Coach … Who’s asking?”

  “Ohio State for one.”

  “No lie?” Luke broke into a grin. “One of the Big Ten’s asking about me?”

  “You’re good, Luke; they should be asking. And you’ve still got another year in high school. They’ll be on you like white on rice after next season.”

  Julie refrained from rushing the discussion even though they were going to be impossibly late. Football was Luke’s only chance to make it into college.

  “So what did you tell him?” Luke asked.

  “I told him to stand in line!”

  Both Luke and her father burst out laughing. Julie smiled and shook her head. “You two are totally weird.” But she was glad for Luke. She loved him and wanted him to receive every break he deserved.

  Once outside in the crisp November night, Luke took her in his arms and kissed her long and hard. She felt her knees go weak. “I guess you really did miss me,” she whispered when he released her.

  “Now that the season’s over, I’ve got to make up for lost time. You know I love you, Julie.”

  “I know. But it’s always nice to hear you say it.”

  He opened the door of his car for her. The vehicle was old, but clean and well maintained. Luke had worked long hours the summer before to earn the money to buy it, and when he’d turned seventeen in October, his mom, who worked at the steel mills, had gotten it painted a deep navy blue. The car caught the color of the pale full moon in its shiny finish.

  They drove to Waterton’s lone bowling alley, parked, and went inside. The sounds of balls striking pins punctuated the air. Frank sauntered over. “Sorry we’re late,” Luke said. “Where’s Solena?”

  “In the bathroom sulking.”

  “Don’t tell me you two have had another fight,” Julie said in exasperation.

  “She’s impossible, Julie. Why’s she so jealous?”

  Julie shot Luke a look that said, Let me go see what I can do, and headed for the rest rooms. She found Solena inside, dabbing her eyes with a paper towel. “Now what’s wrong?” Julie asked, none too patiently. She’d been looking forward to an evening of fun, not of refereeing her friends’ spats.

  “I caught Frank talking to Melanie Hawkins.”

  “It’s not a federal offense.”

  Solena threw down the wadded towel. “It might not seem like any big deal to you—you’ve got Luke, who’s never even so much as looked at another girl since he fell for you in fifth grade. But out here in the real world, it’s pretty grim. Girls are always coming on to Frank. And he likes it!”

  “Frank likes you, Solena. How many times do I have to tell you? And I know girls are waiting to snake away guys like Frank and Luke, but give your guy some credit. If he wants to date Melanie, he’ll tell you.”

  “Oh, you just don’t understand!” Solena stamped her foot.

  Julie was trying to be sympathetic, but it was difficult. It was true that Luke had hung around her since he was ten. Of course, then, she couldn’t see him for dust. In fact, she’d found it annoying to have some skinny, scrappy kid with shaggy black hair following her everywhere. But when he was twelve, he joined one of the football teams sponsored by the YMCA that her father coached and she learned more about him.

  She learned that Luke’s father had died in a steel mill accident when Luke was only eight and that his mother was struggling to raise him alone. She learned that he was always in trouble and solving his problems with his fists. Football and her father’s belief in Luke as a player had saved him from growing up in the juvenile detention center.

  On her fourteenth birthday, Luke had shown up on Julie’s porch holding a fistful of flowers, and when she’d taken them and looked into his dark brown eyes and seen absolute adoration for her, something inside her had melted. They’d been dating steadily for the past three years and everyone knew that Julie and Luke went together like ice cream and cake, sunlight and summer.

  “We’re going bowling,” Julie told Solena firmly. “And if you don’t join us, Melanie really will have an opening. Is that what you want?”

  Once she’d coaxed Solena out of the bathroom and they’d found Luke and Frank setting up in one of the lanes, Julie felt better. Solena sulked for a while longer, but soon she seemed like her old self. Julie sat nestled against Luke’s side while Solena and Frank took their turn at the pins.

  “Glad you could soften her up,” Luke said, tugging playfully on Julie’s blond hair.

  “I wasn’t about to let Solena ruin our evening. Besides, I have plans for you later, buster.” She pressed her lips against his neck.

  “What plans?” he asked, a smile in his voice.

  She pulled back, looking puzzled. She reached up and pressed her fingers along the side of his jaw. “Luke,” she said. “What’s this lump?”

  2

  Luke pulled away, his expression self-conscious. “Swollen gland, that’s all.”

  “Did your doctor see it?”

  “Julie, it’s nothing. When a person gets the flu, glands swell.”

  She frowned. “Is the one on the other side swollen too?”

  Luke stood and picked up his bowling ball. “Are you going to hang out your shingle?” He held up an imaginary sign. “ ‘Julie Ellis: Medicine Woman.’ Come on, it’s our turn. Bet you a buck you can’t make a strike.”

  She leaped to her feet. “You’re on, buster.”

  The rest of the evening passed quickly, and by the time Luke drove her home, Julie was feeling content. She hooked her arm through Luke’s once he stopped his car in front of her house, then leaned her head against his broad shoulder. “I had fun,” she said.

  “Me too. But then I always have fun when I’m with you.”

  She felt a tingling sensation along her skin. Luke said romantic things without calculation. Which was one of the reasons she cared for him so much. “I think you should sleep in tomorrow,” she told him. “You need a chance to recuperate.”

  He didn’t argue. “I am feeling pretty lousy. Maybe some extra sleep will help. I’ll call you after you get home from church.”

  She raised her face and received his long, lingering kiss, then got out of the car. “I can make it up the walk by myself. Go home and get to bed.”

  He smiled, but even in the faint glow of the lights from his dashboard, she thought he looked weary and pale. She squeezed his hand through the open passenger window and dashed up the sidewalk and into her house.

  “Is that you, Julie?” she heard her mother call.

  “No, Mom. It’s a burglar.”

  Her mother came into the foyer, her terrycloth robe wrapped around her slim figure. “Cute,” she s
aid, without humor. “Come sit down and visit with me.”

  “I’m tired. Can we talk tomorrow?” Julie was certain she knew what her mother was going to say, and she wasn’t in the mood to hear it. Especially after the good time she’d had with Luke and her friends.

  “You’ll be too busy tomorrow.” Her mother led her into the living room, sat, and patted the sofa cushion beside her. “Come on. It won’t take long.”

  Julie sighed and scrunched herself into the corner of the plush rose-colored sofa. She hugged a throw pillow to her chest. “So, what can’t wait until tomorrow?”

  “Julie, I’m concerned that you’re not sending out applications for college.”

  “Oh, Mom—not this again.” Julie groaned.

  “Listen to me. I’m a guidance counselor, for heaven’s sake. I know what I’m talking about. The freshman classes for all the really top colleges fill up fast and you’re too bright, your grades are too good, for you not to get into any college you apply to. I’ve already talked to dozens of kids in your junior class, and they’re sending off forms right and left. You should be too.”

  “Mom, I’ve got tons of time to think about college. I won’t even take the SAT exam until next fall, and those scores are what colleges really consider.”

  “Naturally the SATs are important, but you won’t have any trouble with them. You should start applying now to the colleges you’re truly interested in.”

  Julie struggled to keep from losing her temper. She knew her mother was trying to be helpful, but all Julie felt was unnecessary pressure. “Can’t I just enjoy high school? Good grief, it’s not even Christmas yet! I don’t want to deal with college now—especially when I have over a year of high school left.” She got up from the sofa.

  “It’s because of Luke, isn’t it?” Her mother’s voice was low, but it stopped Julie in her tracks.

  “I don’t know what you mean.”

  “You’re so busy thinking about Luke that you don’t think about yourself. You spend more time with him than with anything else.”

  Julie clenched her teeth, hating that her mother was partly right, yet not wanting to admit it. “Of course I like Luke. But I do plenty of things with my friends. And I’ve never once let my grades drop, have I?”