Beautifully Forgotten Read Online Free PDF Page A

dignity and charm exuded from the place. And the grounds were unbelievable considering it was located in the city; looking out the windows you saw green grass and trees. The sight almost didn’t seem real. It was as if the building had been there long before the city, and the city built itself around it.
    Darcy vividly remembered the day, a year after her mom had taken her back, that had changed her life again, even down to how Sister Margaret had looked sitting behind the desk in the small room that acted as her office.

    Twelve years earlier . . .
    “Darcy, sit.”
    Sister Margaret was not one for unnecessary words. Darcy settled into the old vinyl chair.
    “You’ve been offered a scholarship to Manhattan College.”
    Darcy had no reaction to the statement—she wasn’t quite sure she’d heard the words correctly.
    “Did you hear me? You are getting an opportunity to go to college.”
    “How?”
    Sister Margaret waved off her question. “It’s not important.” Sincerity drifted into her expression when she added, “You’ve had a tough time of it, but you have your whole life ahead of you. This is a chance for you to take control.”
    “But I can’t afford to go to school.”
    “Tuition and housing are all covered in the scholarship. Look, I dedicated my life to the church, so I called in a few favors and made this happen. The least you can do is accept it.”
    “But why are you helping me?”
    “You have had more than your share of pain, and sometimes the helping hand of another can make all the difference. I know this isn’t where you hoped to be, but maybe you’ll find you like the direction this takes you.”
    Darcy couldn’t help but think there was more to it. Sister Margaret was not the warm and thoughtful type and yet here she was offering her a chance.
    “Do you want to stay under the control of your mother or do you want to get away from your mom and be the master of your own destiny?”
    Those were the magic words: away from your mom. Darcy couldn’t help but feel that this offer was penance of some kind for Sister Margaret, but penance for what, Darcy didn’t know. She couldn’t lie—she wanted to take it. Wanted to run from her past and never look back.
    “How will I ever repay you?”
    Sister Margaret leaned back in her chair. “Don’t squander the opportunity. Make something of yourself and we’ll call it even.”

    Darcy rinsed her mouth and put her toothbrush back. The day she’d signed the lease on her little apartment in Times Square was a wonderful affirmation that she was making it on her own. Her degree in business administration had landed her a job managing Sookie’s, a family-owned catering company, and that’s where she’d found her niche. She loved the work and she was good at it.
    She moved into her living room, taking a moment to stare at the print of Gustav Klimt’s Three Ages of Woman. The painting had moved her the first time she’d seen it in Sister Anne’s room, but the meaning behind it had grown exponentially for her after she’d left St. Agnes because it was a reminder of her past and how no one stayed the same. Every time she looked at it she appreciated just how far she had come and what she had lost along the way.
    Even without the print, Lucien was never far from her thoughts. She had looked into the man who had come to see her, even recruited Sister Margaret’s help, but they were never able to figure out who he was. He definitely had someone on the inside of St. Agnes who had gotten him in under the radar so that there was no record of him ever being there.
    When Darcy had found herself in need of a job after leaving Sookie’s, she had given specific instructions to her headhunter that if a job became available in any of Lucien Black’s organizations, that she wanted to know of it. It had been fanciful and, she realized after the reality of their disastrous reunion, foolish, but she had hoped that he would recognize her name and they would