The Ring (44 page)

Yes? Mr. Goddard? Ariana swiftly pulled the door open and looked into his face with a gentle smile. The emerald ring was on her finger. Their eyes met they had the same deep blue eyes. For a moment she did not know him and she did not understand, but as he stood there, the man who had been Gerhard von Gotthard knew that he had at least found one of them at last. He stood there crying softly, making not a single sound. She was the same girl who had haunted his memories ' the same face ' those same laughing blue eyes '

Ariana? It was a whisper, but it called to her mind the sounds of so long ago ' the shouts in the stairwell ' the shrieks from his laboratory ' the games they had played outside ' Ariana ' she could still hear it ' Ariana! ' Ariana! It was like an echo as a sob tore through her and she flew into his arms.

My God ' my God ' it's you ' oh, Gerhard ' She held him with the anguish of a lifetime, as in her arms the tall, handsome, blue-eyed man held her close and sobbed.

They stood there for endless moments, holding tightly to the present and the past, and when at last she brought her brother inside with her, she smiled up at him, and he smiled, too ' two people who had carried lonely burdens for half a lifetime and who had finally found each other, and were free at last.

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Dell Publishinga division of

Random House, Inc.

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New York, New York 10036

Copyright - 1980 by Danielle Steel

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eISBN: 978-0-307-56698-0

August 1989