Always and Forever (35 page)

Michael sighed heavily. “I’m not there yet, Jory. I’ve still got a lot to work through.”

Jory nodded. “Me too. But every day it’s better for me,” she added.

“I’m glad you’ve found some answers for yourself. In her letter to me, Melissa said that you ‘loved life and people too much to let either get you down for long.’ ”

The way he quoted it brought a lump to Jory’s throat. “She wrote me a great letter too, Michael. I’ll treasure it for as long as I live.”

“I told you in the truck, Jory, that I brought you up here because Melissa asked me to. But I also brought you for a reason of my own.”

Her heart tripped and she smiled shyly. “To throw me over the side?”

He returned her smile. “I guess it must seem that way to you at times. I was never very nice and I’ve wanted to say I’m sorry for a long time.”

Surprised, Jory straightened. “I know I’ve always been Melissa’s pesky little rich friend to you, Michael. It’s no secret.”

“You shared things with her, Jory, that I couldn’t share. I was only her brother, but you—well, you were her buddy. You two always seemed to have secrets, especially during her last visit to the hospital.”

The notion that Michael had been jealous of their friendship stunned her. “Cripes, Michael, we were best friends and girls! Girls are like that. They just”—she hunted for the right words—“share things. But you were her brother and she worshipped the ground you walked on.”

“You won’t hold it against me?”

“I could never hold anything against you, Michael.”

They stood staring at each other across the basket as it bobbed in the gathering morning light. Michael’s face was awash in pink and gold, and his eyes had trapped the gold. Jory felt warm and content. She remembered the night she’d almost shared her body with him. Her feelings for Michael remained, but they had changed. She loved
Michael Austin, and a part of her would always love him. But Michael belonged to the sky, and to her childhood dreams.

Lyle, on the other hand, was like the earth—firm and solid and constant. Best of all, Lyle loved her, and she knew then, with the dawn inches from her fingertips, that she loved him too.

A gentle breeze blew, filling the basket and caressing Jory and Michael. It felt like silk against Jory’s skin. “I feel like Melissa’s here with us, Michael,” she whispered.

“I know. I often feel like I’m in a cathedral when I’m up here. Like the earth’s too small. Maybe that’s why I came today and why I wanted you to come too. Maybe I thought the two of us together could touch her one more time.”

Jory stepped next to him, and shoulder to shoulder they looked across the glowing heavens to where the curve of the horizon met the curve of the earth. The last clouds of night clung to the sky, then suddenly, the brilliant red-gold rim of the sun punched through them. Jory’s breath caught at the sight and she felt an overwhelming sense of joy. She said, “We’re going to make it, Michael. All of us are going to make it just fine.”