Barbara Delinsky - Gemstone

To my son Eric,

with thoughts of a very special time in his life Contents

Her hands trembling, Sara McCray slowly 1

I the time it took them to move from the library 31

Geoffrey stood straight and still in the sliver 61

Thats unfair, Sara whispered, feeling the 97

He watched her until she disappeared from 129

Sara? She stopped still, her heart pounding. 165

He held his breath, all humor gone. She had 201

The moonlight played games, momentarily... 231

No sooner had Sara returned to New York 261

You certainly are pregnant, he declared 285

Her hands trembling, Sara McCray slowly flattened the newspaper onto her desk and reread the obituary before her. Alex and Diane Owens? Alex and Diane dead? How could it be?

Her brown eyes clouded in her struggle for comprehension. But the printed word wasnt to be denied even upon a third reading. There had been an automobile accident on a slick road just north of San Francisco. Neither passenger had survived the crash. She sat stunned, shocked into silent mourning for the couple who had been so youthful, so vibrant, so very much in love. Theyd been 1

Barbara Delinsky

her only friends at a time when it had seemed the world was against her. But shed left San Francisco eight years ago. She had neither seen them since nor had the opportunity to thank them for their support. The break had been complete

.

.

.

as Geoffrey must have

wished it.

Geoffrey. The passage of eight years time had done nothing to stem the involuntary quickening she still felt at the mention of his name. With an unsteady breath she stood and moved toward the window where the night lights of New York glittered against her own slender reflection.

Shed changed. No longer was she that naive young woman hed found in Colorado ten years before. The image that met her eyes confirmed it.

Then shed worn simpler clothes, mostly jeans, sweaters and boots. Now she wore finetailored wool slacks, a silk blouse and imported leather pumps. Then her blond hair had flowed in free fall down her back. Now it was loosely twisted and chicly caught up with a comb above one ear. Then the crisp Rocky Mountain air had given her cheeks all the blush theyd needed. Now she was delicately made up to counter the pallor of a city dweller. 2

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Shifting, her gaze moved beyond to focus blindly on the night. Yes, shed changed. But the memories remained. There were memories of Geoffrey... of his family... of Alex and Diane...

Disbelieving still, Sara whirled back to the desk to study the blur of two-day-old newsprint. The words were as clear as ever, their meaning as incredibly grievous despite her reluctance to accept them. She would have liked to see Alex and Diane again, to tell them of all shed been doing, to thank them for their support way back then. But it was too late... too late. Now there were only final respects to be paid. Her head bowed, she entered the small chapel and slid into an aisle seat in back just as the service was about to begin. The stylish suede hat that dipped low over her eyes hid not only her fatigue from the red-eye flight but the sorrow that had brought her so suddenly west. As for the trepidation she felt, she could only fold her hands in her lap to still their shakiness. It was the first time shed been back to San Francisco since she and Geoffrey had divorced. The haunting lilt of the organ tapered off, finally yielding to the ministers low voice. The Lord is my shepherd...

Barbara Delinsky

Raising her eyes for the first time, Sara looked past rows of mourners toward the front of the chapel and the two brass-edged coffins that stood in stark evidence of tragedy. Alex and Diane. So caring. So giving. So understanding. What had they done to deserve such untimely deaths?

She recalled the first time shed met them, just hours before theyd stood as witnesses to her marriage to Geoffrey. From the start theyd treated her with warmth and acceptance, toasting her future with Jeff, bolstering her during that private flight back to San Francisco, giving her what encouragement they could in preparation for her inevitable confrontation with the Parker world. It hadnt been nearly enough. Nothing could have prepared her for that confrontation, a scene neither to be forgotten nor, shed vowed at the time of the divorce, repeated. Suppressing a shudder, she let her attention be drawn back to the minister, whose gentle voice had completed a selection of inspirational readings and embarked on an emotionladen eulogy for the couple hed known and admired. Sara listened intently, seeking justification in his words for what had happened to Alex and Diane. Was it Gods will?

Gemstone

When the achingly sweet strains of Coming Home filled the chapel, her eyes brimmed with unexpected tears. Lowering her head, she felt first one, then another, trickle slowly down her cheeks. Her gloved hand drew a handkerchief from her purse and pressed it to her lips. Yes, there was her sorrow at the passing of two friends. But there was more, far more, that the soulful mood of the music inspired. She felt suddenly and overwhelmingly lonely, as she hadnt felt in years. Was it this city, as opposed to New York which held her life, her career, her friends and co-workers? Was it the memory of what she had once hoped for herelove, family, the warmth of a home filled with children? Or was it the fear that life was short, too short?

The music ended without having supplied the answers to her questions. Yet there was strength in the ministers final words, enough for her to gather her composure and stand with the others while the pallbearers slowly started down the narrow aisle.

She followed their progress intently, her heart beating faster with their approach. Her eye glanced along the first coffin and on to the second. Her fingers clutched at the wooden pew before her. It was inevitable. Shed known 5

Barbara Delinsky

it from the moment shed so hastily decided to attend the funeral. Geoffrey would be here. It would be the first time shed seen him in eight years.

The pallbearers moved past, then the small group of relatives. Saras attention barely skimmed them, searching the faces beyond, always beyond. Then she felt a jolt of recognition and caught her breath. Thereshoulders weighted beneath a burden of sorrow... He moved slowly, as though each step brought him closer to a future he didnt want to face. Sara couldnt take her eyes from himhis tall, lean frame garbed in a dark suit whose black tie spoke publicly of his mourning, his dark head bowed. Closer he came, closer, until he neared that last pew.

Shed never know what caught his attention: whether it was the power of her own concentration, some other mystical force or simply his arrival at the back of the chapel. But just as he came upon the row in which she stood, he paused, waited, angled his head the barest inch to note her gloved hands gripping the wood. Then slowly, almost fearfully, he raised his eyes.

In that instant her being was suspended in time over an eight-year span. When shed last 6

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seen Geoffrey, hed been hard and angry. Hed allowed for no hint of sympathy or sorrow, either one of which would easily have stayed her departure.

Now sorrow permeated his beingsorrow and disbelief, even a vulnerability she would never have attributed to a Parker. It was all she could do to keep from reaching out to him. But it wasnt her place... not any longer. His lips moved in a nearly imperceptibly mouthed Sara? She bit her lower lip and nodded as faintly, realizing with a start that he might not immediately have recognized her, subsequently wondering whether hed be angry that shed presumed to intrude on what had to be such a personal tragedy for him. The last thing shed wanted was to make things worse.