“Good night, Madame.”
I replaced the receiver and went back to the terrace. I walked down the steps into the gardens Sebastian and I had planted so many years ago.
How beautiful they looked tonight. Many of the flowers had bloomed early this year. The borders were riotous with color and the early evening air was fragrant with their mingled scents.
I stood looking out toward my lavender fields and the meadows far beyond. Everything was a blur. I could not see anything through my tears.
My thoughts were of Countess Zoe. She had shown me that the past was immutable. My past was Sebastian and part of me would always belong to him. But I had let him go . . . I had exorcised his ghost at last. And now I could get on with my life. Like Jack, I could start anew.
Countess Zoe had set me free.
Dangerous to Know Page 32