“She says she loves you,” he said in the simplified version.
“Tell her I love her too,” and it was true, she did. After barely five weeks together, Meredith was already deeply attached to her. They were starting her medical visits the following week, and Merrie was planning to go with her, with a translator the center was providing, so they could explain to An what was going to happen in the months ahead.
Meredith and Peter put their dinner on plates in the kitchen then, and she smiled at him as they did.
“If I hadn’t gone to that book signing with Claudia, I’d never have met you, and An wouldn’t be here.”
“It looks like it was my lucky day then.” He smiled at her.
“And mine. I never thought I’d have a child in my life,” she said, looking pensive. “I was so busy doing other things, I just couldn’t see it happening.” And she hadn’t expected her mother to fall in love with An either. An had changed their lives completely, in just over a month.
They had an easy, peaceful dinner together that night, with Peter translating back and forth, and a lot of giggling from An. After Meredith put her to bed, she and Peter sat and talked again for a long time. He was a nice addition to her life.
“What about you? When are you going to foster or adopt one of them?” she asked and put him on the spot, and he looked thoughtful.
“I’m responsible for all of them. That’s about all I can handle. I know my limits.”
“I thought I knew mine. I was wrong about it. Maybe you are too.”
“I always figured I’d have kids of my own one day. But then I got caught up in a nomadic existence and fell in love with what I was doing, and it got away from me. I’m not sorry. I love what I’m doing.”
“So do I. The causes I believe in were always more important to me. But it turns out that I have room in my life for An too. I thought I was crazy when I called you and said I’d do it.”
“I have to admit, you surprised me,” he said, smiling at her, and he gently touched her hand. “I’d like to have dinner with you one of these days, Merrie. Like a grown-up. In a restaurant, without An. Just you and me. How does that sound to you?”
She was smiling even before she answered. “Like a very good idea.”
“You can tell me about your days as a Freedom Rider in Mississippi, and all the times you went to jail.”
She looked pensive as he said it. “I’ll probably wind up there again one of these days, for something I believe in. There’s always another battle to fight. I even got arrested with my father once. I think he enjoyed it,” she said, and Peter laughed.
And when he left her that night, he lingered at the door for a minute, and then he leaned toward her and kissed her, and what she felt for him was more powerful than she’d realized, as she closed the door softly behind him, half excited and half scared.
Chapter Eighteen
The first medical visit with An was more daunting than Meredith had expected. She had a number of arduous skin grafts ahead of her, but the doctors thought her prognosis was good. Janet had come with them, and the translator, and An didn’t seem as upset as she would have expected her to, and the translator explained it to Meredith after the visit.
“She says that the more they want to do to her, the longer she can stay here with you.” It was one way to look at it. The doctors were predicting that her surgeries would stretch over eighteen months to two years.
“We ought to do something fun with her in between, like go to Disney World or something,” Janet suggested, and Meredith smiled at her. Meredith was thinking about getting a bigger apartment, so they would have more room to move around. And An needed her own room. It made sense, even if only for two years.
She dropped An and her mother off at the apartment, where Pam was waiting for them, and she went back to her office. Charlie had a stack of messages for her, and she was interviewing two paralegals that afternoon.
“How did it go?” he asked, looking concerned.
“It won’t be easy, but she’s a brave little girl. And my mother wants to take her to Disney World.”
“The same woman who didn’t know how to write a check or find her favorite show on TV two months ago?”
“The very same,” Meredith said, smiling at him. She was still sad he was leaving, but was starting to adjust to the idea. Nothing lasted forever, and surely not employees in today’s world. He wanted new adventures and was tired of New York.
They were both discouraged by the candidates for his job they saw that afternoon.
“I can’t leave you with people like that, Merrie.” One had been unpleasant, and the other one seemed just plain stupid. She wasn’t looking forward to the mess in her office after he left. Even Peggy was worried about it. “Maybe California isn’t such a good idea,” he said. “Is it too late to change my mind?”
“Are you sure you want to? You sounded pretty excited about San Francisco.” She wanted to be fair to him.
“I think I was just having a bad day. My romance had ended, and I thought geography was the only solution.”
“Well, I’m certainly not pushing you to leave,” she said, hopeful, but she didn’t want to take advantage of him either, and keep him from a better life.
“San Francisco isn’t going anywhere. Why don’t we shelve the idea for a while, and see who I meet here?”
“Don’t let your love life drive your life,” she said wisely. “You can meet the right person anywhere, at the right time. I think it’s all blind luck and good timing.” And she thought both had just happened to her when she met Peter. They were planning their first dinner date when he got back from Vietnam. He was leaving again soon but only for two weeks.
He called her that night to see how the medical visit had gone, and after she told him, he said there was something else he wanted to tell her.
“An is available for adoption. We just got confirmation today. All her relatives are dead. If she goes back, she’ll go to an orphanage in Saigon. There’s no pressure on you. You can foster her for a year or two and then decide to adopt her, or send her back. I thought you’d want to know you have the option.”
“And you don’t call that pressure?” She laughed over the phone.
“It’s information. That’s always a good thing to have.”
“Yes, it is,” he could hear that she was happy at the news. “When are you coming home?” She was anxious for their dinner date.
“In two weeks. We’re waiting for four more kids right now.”
“That’s a long time to wait for dinner,” she teased him. She was looking forward to his return, and so was he. For years, there had been no time and no room in her life for anything but the causes she worked for, the battles she wanted to fight, and the people she wanted to champion. And now she had time for An, and for him, and maybe even for herself. And she still had room for the people who needed her help. Somehow a door had opened, and she could see new vistas ahead.
“Hang on for that dinner, Merrie. We’ll do it as soon as I get back.”
“I’ll be here.”
In six short weeks, An had brought joy into her life, and even created a bond with her mother that she had never had before. She had always felt that her mother disapproved of her, and even after all of her objections to Meredith taking on an injured child, she had finally done something her mother understood. And Janet was becoming someone she had never been able to be in her marriage, an independent woman with her own ideas. She had fallen in love with a little girl and was learning Vietnamese. An was an immeasurable gift.
“Take care of yourself, Merrie. I’ll see you soon,” Peter promised, and after they hung up, Meredith thought about him and what he was doing in Vietnam, bringing wounded children back with him for medical help and to find new homes for them when he could. In recent years, all her heroes had died, and now ther
e was a new one, and he felt the same way about her. He was in awe of all that she had done and the life she had led. Instead of finding it shocking, he valued her all the more for it, and didn’t expect her to give it up, which she never could. He had understood that too.
The next morning, Meredith found An sitting at the breakfast table in her nightgown, pouring chocolate sauce onto her cereal and looking pleased.
“Yes?” she said, looking up at her as Meredith considered the scene for a moment.
“Maybe not so yes,” she said and then thought better of it: “Oh, why not?” She handed her a glass of chocolate milk to go with it. “Who says we can’t make our own rules? I won’t tell if you don’t,” she said, grinning at the little girl.
She had already made her decision after talking to Peter the night before. She didn’t need to wait two years. Maybe one day she would take An to Vietnam when she grew up, so she could see where she came from, long after the war was over. But she was not sending her back to an orphanage in Saigon. She sat smiling at An and thinking about the future. They had lessons to teach each other, and she was going to teach her the same things her grandfather had taught her, and An would do with them what she wished. She would be her own person, with her own ideas and her own dreams.
* * *
—
Peter came back from Vietnam two weeks later, with twelve more children, and Meredith went to see him at the center the day he got home. She took An with her and she played with the others, laughing and squealing and running around, and Peter was happy to see them both. She told him about her decision to adopt An, and he was thrilled for both of them. After they left, he went home to get some sleep.
The next day they went to dinner, at a cozy neighborhood restaurant near her apartment. She told him what she’d been doing, and he told her about the trip. She explained a new case she’d taken on. It was a complicated racial discrimination suit, which would be a landmark case if she won it, and another victory in the battle that meant so much to her.
She was fighting the good fight, as she always had, and knew she always would. She had kept her promise to her grandfather. But there was room for Peter and for An now too. That was all new.
They walked back from the restaurant hand in hand, just enjoying the evening and being together, fully aware of how lucky they were to have met at the right time in their lives. And Meredith understood now more than ever, that despite the losses and the grief and fallen heroes, if you were brave enough, and stayed true to yourself, it all worked out in the end.
To my wonderful, loving, brave,
and so greatly loved children,
Beatrix, Trevor, Todd, Nick,
Sam, Victoria, Vanessa,
Maxx, and Zara,
Be true to yourself, fight for what
you believe in and believe to be right,
and know that I love you,
with every ounce of my being.
With all my love, forever.
Mom/d.s.
By Danielle Steel
THE GOOD FIGHT • THE CAST • ACCIDENTAL HEROES • FALL FROM GRACE • PAST PERFECT • FAIRYTALE • THE RIGHT TIME • THE DUCHESS • AGAINST ALL ODDS • DANGEROUS GAMES • THE MISTRESS • THE AWARD • RUSHING WATERS • MAGIC • THE APARTMENT • PROPERTY OF A NOBLEWOMAN • BLUE • PRECIOUS GIFTS • UNDERCOVER • COUNTRY • PRODIGAL SON • PEGASUS • A PERFECT LIFE • POWER PLAY • WINNERS • FIRST SIGHT • UNTIL THE END OF TIME • THE 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 • HONOR 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 • THE KLONE AND I • THE LONG ROAD HOME • THE GHOST • SPECIAL DELIVERY • THE RANCH • SILENT HONOR • 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 • PASSION’S PROMISE • GOING HOME
Nonfiction
PURE JOY: The Dogs We Love
A GIFT OF HOPE: Helping the Homeless
HIS BRIGHT LIGHT: The Story of Nick Traina
Children’s Books
PRETTY MINNIE IN HOLLYWOOD
PRETTY MINNIE IN PARIS
About the Author
DANIELLE STEEL has been hailed as one of the world’s most popular authors, with over 650 million copies of her novels sold. Her many international bestsellers include The Cast, Accidental Heroes, Fall from Grace, Past Perfect, The Right Time, The Duchess, Against All Odds, and other highly acclaimed novels. She is also the author of His Bright Light, the story of her son Nick Traina’s life and death; A Gift of Hope, a memoir of her work with the homeless; Pure Joy, about the dogs she and her family have loved; and the children’s books Pretty Minnie in Paris and Pretty Minnie in Hollywood.
daniellesteel.com
Facebook.com/DanielleSteelOfficial
Twitter: @daniellesteel
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The Good Fight Page 26