Winners

  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

  61–63 Uxbridge Road, London W5 5SA

  A Random House Group Company

  www.transworldbooks.co.uk

  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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