Possessions
Page 59
Ross lassed the top of her head. **Can you tell me what happened?"
"So much happened. It seemed like a lifetime, in one night." Waves of sleepiness lapped at Katherine and she swayed against Ross. "I didn't really understand how much I'd changed until I talked to Craig—heard him talk—about himself, and us."
POSSESSIONS
"We've all changed," said Ross. "But you more than anyone. I tried to tell you that."
"I know. But I couldn't put it all together—what I had been and what I'd become and why I hadn't been able to do it before. Then Craig came and every time I looked at him it was as if I were looking at what I used to be. Remember," she went on sleepily, "once I told you I missed being able to predict tomorrow? That was only because I was afraid."
"And you're not afraid now?"
"No. Not since some time last night, when I saw how far I'd come by myself. That was when I knew I wanted you." Over the edge of her coffee cup, she smiled at Ross. "I knew I could be a whole person by myself, but I knew my life would be richer with you in it. I want you to let me face things on my own, the way you did when you said we should stay away from each other, but I want you to care about me, too, and protect me—and I want to help you when you need it ... the two of us, sharing the good times and helping each other through the bad ones . . . Ross, I'm so sleepy ... am I making sense?"
"You're promising," he said gravely, "to be less fierce about your independence as long as I help you without diminishing it—and let you do the same for me. As long as we keep a balance between us."
"Not easy," she munnured.
"We'll probably manage it about half the time, and work on the rest. Is that good enough?"
"It's wonderful." Katherine laughed, her love for him welling up through her sleepiness, making everything seem possible. She looked at the fog, burning away in the hot sun, and the skyscrapers across the bay, shimmering like an enchanted city filled with happy endings. "If you're lucky enough to have people love you," she said softly, "you ought to be smart enough to let them help you when you need it. Craig said that, when he was explaining to Jennifer and Todd why he'd been wrong."
'Then he's learned more than I thought he could. Will he go to Elissa?"
"I don't know. I hope so."
"And Jennifer and Todd?"
"They told him they love you. Not the way they love him,
POSSESSIONS
but . . .Oh, damn, I wish there was a way to build happiness without sadness somewhere underneath."
Ross took her in his arms and they held each other. "Kath-erine, I love you," he said, moving his Ups slowly against hers. He kissed her eyes as she fought to keep them open. "My sleepy darling, I promise to share with you everything I am and everything I dream of, if you'll do the same for me."
Katherine's eyelids flew open. "I forgot to tell you. Xavier's called. I have an appointment tomorrow."
"Another begiiming." He smiled. "We'll have a celebration. Trumpets and fireworks and champagne. And eventually, when the laws of California are satisfied, a wedding. With four offspring in the cheering section."
Katherine put her arms around him and opened her mouth beneath his. Their bodies met, remembering, and they stood together and walked with their arms around each other into the house, to the shadowed coolness of Ross's bedroom. But the instant the mattress yielded beneath their weight, Katherine drooped.
"Ross, do you mind—?" she asked. "I'm so sorry, but would you mind very much if I just went to sleep?"
Holding her, he laughed with pure joy. "Dear one," he said, "we have a lifetime ahead of us." He took off her shoes and laid her on the bed, her head on his pillow.
"But wake me up," she said drowsily. "I promised Jennifer and Todd I'd be there at three . . ."
"I'll go. I want to stop at the office; I'll pick them up and bring them here."
"And we have to call Victoria and Tobias." Her voice was barely a murmur. "They'll be hurt if we don't tell them right away ..."
"I'll invite us there for dinner tonight. Would you like that? The four of us, and Carrie and Jon, and Victoria and Tobias. A family dinner."
Katherine's lips curved in a smile. "A family dinner. I love you, Ross."
He put a light blanket over her and drew the drapes, then stood for a moment beside the bed. Katherine held up her arms. Bending down, Ross kissed her closed eyes. "Sleep well, my love. You've come home."
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Judith Barnard and Michael Fain —the two halves of "Judith Michael"—are husband and wife writing partners whose first two novels. Deceptions and Possessions, were bestsellers. Judith Bamaid is also the author of the novel The Past and Present of Solomon Sorge and has been a journalist and literary critic. Michael Fain, a former aerospace scientist and science writer, is also a professional photographer.
JUDITH MICHAEL
AMERICA'S SENSATIONAL NOVELIST
Judith Michael knows what you want to read—characters that Uve on the page; stories that engage your heart and mind; intricate dramas of ambition and desire, of family and fortune and of passion and love.
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Judith Michael has created such phenomenal bestsellers as POSSESSIONS, DECEPTIONS, PRIVATE AFFAIRS, INHERITANCE and now her biggest blockbuster yet—A RULING PASSION.
A compelling drama of ambition and desire. A RULING PASSION transports you into the highstakes world of televsion broadcasting—^where revenge and envy rule the airwaves, and murder can be more than just a spot on the evening news.
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FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF Private Affairs and A Ruling Passion
Judith Michael
Judith Michael is at the top of her form with this mesmerizing, big-canvas blockbuster of love, empire, politics, family, and revenge.
The fight between Anne Gamett and her uncle Vincent for the family fortune, name, and love will pick up where it left off 24 years earlier. Vincent is expecting the frightened teenager he faced before, but Anne is nowa strong woman, finally awakened from her long sleep to discover her own power to win and, more crucially, to love.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
JUDITH MICHAEL is the pen name of the husband-and-wife writing team of Judith Barnard and Michael Fain. With over 11 million books in print, each of their novels— Deceptions , Possessions , Private Affairs , Inheritance and A Rulin g Passion —has been a phenomenal bestseller. The couple divide their time between Chicago and Aspen.
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Table of Contents
Front C
over
Title Page
Copyright
Pages
Back Cover