What Dreams May Come Read Online Free PDF Page A

reached across the narrow counter.
    She felt a cool touch against her throat near the neckline of her blouse, but before she could stiffen or pull away, he had slipped one finger beneath the thin gold chain and drawn it toward him. As he pulled the chain taut between them, the diamond ring lifted from its resting place between her breasts and hung suspended. The stone caught the morning light and glittered brightly.
    Kelly stared at the ring for an instant, then looked at him. For the first time he was smiling, though the expression was hardly more than a slight curve of his firm lips.
    "I don't think so," he said quietly.

Two
     
    For a long moment she didn't move, but only stared at him with her huge violet eyes. Then she reached up and caught the chain a couple of inches from his fingers, and pulled it away from him. The ring fell onto the smooth material of her blue blouse, and she fingered it for an instant before crossing her arms beneath her breasts.
    "Don't read too much into that," she said stiffly.
    Mitch knew he was walking a tightrope and that his balance had to be perfect. Even though he didn't feel the years that lay behind him—and between him and Kelly—he knew they existed. For her, the passage of time had been very real, and nothing he could say would be able to change it. He could only try to convince her that the past was no more dead and buried than he was.
    He didn't try to fool himself into believing it would be easy. He knew all too well that he couldn't do for Kelly what the coma had done for him: make the years seem no more than a single painless night. Even if she hadn't buried him, she hadmourned for what they had lost, and that was what set them apart right now.
    Kelly had said her good-byes years before.
    "What can I read into it, except the truth?" He held his voice steady and quiet. "You wouldn't be wearing that ring if you really had buried me. You still feel something for me."
    She shook her head slightly, her shoulder-length copper hair gleaming with the movement. "The ring is habit, that's all. Like wearing a watch or earrings. Something you do automatically." She drew a breath. "I felt too much for too long, Mitch. One day I just stopped feeling."
    "I don't believe that."
    "It's the truth. What did I have to hold on to? Dreams? The dreams faded. You weren't there, and everyone kept telling me you weren't going to be. Ever. I finally believed them. I said good-bye to you, and I walked away."
    "No regrets since?" He saw her almost flinch at the question, but even though he didn't want to hurt her, he refused to let it go. Let her go. She looked exhausted, the strain of this obviously affecting her strongly despite the control that kept her voice steady and unemotional, and that was the only thread of hope he'd found.
    "What good are regrets? If it helps you to hear it, then, yes, I have regrets. A lot of regrets. But I can't go back and change anything. I can't change anything now. I'm sorry for what we lost, but I can't bring it back."
    "Maybe not." All his consciousness was so totally fixed on her that he was aware of nothing else. "But I have to try, Kelly. I don't have a choice. For me, nine years passed in a night. I woke up loving you."
    She felt a pain so sharp it took her breath for a moment, and when it passed, it left behind a dull ache. "Not me,'" she murmured. "Her. Don't you understand? I'm not her anymore. You don't know me, not now. I became somebody else while you were sleeping. I'm so different from that eighteen-year-old girl that we might as well be totally separate beings. The girl you loved is dead, Mitch. It's your turn to grieve . . . and get on with your life."
    He was silent for a moment, his gaze so intense that it felt like an actual physical touch. Then he shook his head once, and said flatly, "No. I've already lost too much, all of it taken away from me while I slept, while I was helpless to stop any of it. But I'm not helpless now. I won't lose you too, Kelly.