V.C. Andrews - Casteel 04 by Gates of Paradise

Author:Gates of Paradise
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2012-01-17T00:17:01+00:00

Part 3

TWENTY-ONE

Homecoming

.

I was too excited to sleep on the airplane. Luke and I sat beside each other near a window, and Aunt Fanny sat in front of us. I was so happy to see Luke, I couldn't take my eyes off him, and from the way he was looking at me, I knew he felt the same way.

"Pinch me and tell me this isn't a dream, Luke.

Tell me you're really with me again."

"It's no dream," he said, smiling.

"I dreamt it so often and so hard that it still seems that way to me," I confessed. For the first time that I could remember, when I expressed my need and love for him, I didn't blush, nor did he look away. Our eyes fixed on each other. He put his hand over mine and squeezed it gently. Everything in me cried out for him, urged me to say more. I wanted him to embrace me, to hold me tenderly and kiss me.

"Annie, I worried about you day and night. I couldn't concentrate on anything in college. Everyone was trying to get me to go to parties, to meet people, but my heart was too heavy to appreciate or enjoy anything. I spent a lot of time in my dormitory room composing letters to you."

"Letters I never got!" It filled me with such anger. If only I had received his letters, my dark and desperate days would have been bright and hopeful.

"I know that now, but I couldn't understand why you weren't trying to reach me, weren't calling or sending messages somehow. I thought . . ." He looked down.

"What did you think, Luke? Please, tell me," I begged.

"I thought that once you entered the rich world at Farthy, you had forgotten about me, that Tony had surrounded you with so many distractions, brought so many new people for you to meet, that I wasn't important to you any longer. I'm sorry, Annie; I'm sorry I had those thoughts," he apologized.

My heart swelled to know he felt the same way I did.

"Oh no, Luke. I can understand why you thought them, for I thought them of you as well," I admitted eagerly.

"You did?" I nodded, and he smiled. "Then you cared, really cared?"

"Oh, Luke, you can't imagine how much I missed you, missed hearing your voice. I replayed it over and over in my mind, remembering the nice things you said to me in the past. Just thinking about you and the things you have done in your life despite all obstacles gave me hope and encouragement." I smiled. "I went directly for those tall mountains."

"I'm so happy I was some help to you even though I wasn't there beside you."

"Well, you were, and I dreamt and dreamt of us on the gazebo again."

"Me, too," he said, a slight blush coloring his cheeks. I knew it was harder for him to make these revelations than it was for me. Other men might think him soft, even immature. "While I was alone there in my dormitory room, I would imagine us together again the way we were on our eighteenth birthday.

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