Message from Nam by Danielle Steel Read Free Book Online

love you so much, Queenie … take care … promise me you’ll take care of yourself. And if you get a bad cough this winter”—as she did every year—“this time you go to a doctor.”
    “Don’t you worry about me, chile. I’m going to be just fine. You behave yourself out there in … California …” She hardly dared to say the word, and yet it was Queenie who had encouraged her to go, who had helped her to take her freedom. They pulled away from each other then, and Queenie’s eyes were damp, but down Paxton’s creamy face, there were two streams of tears, and her eyes looked greener than ever.
    “I’m going to miss you so much.”
    “So am I.” Queenie dabbed at her eyes with her apron as she smiled, and then patted the pretty young girl’s shoulder. She had loved her as her own as a little child, and she loved her even more now as a young woman. They were bonded to each other for life, and no distance, no time, no place, could pull them apart now, and they both knew it. Paxxie squeezed her hand for a last time, kissed her soft black cheek, and then left the kitchen to go back to the others.
    “I’ll call you,” she whispered as she left, and Queenie winked at her, and then after she was gone, she went downstairs to her room and sobbed into her apron. It broke her heart to see Paxton go, but she knew better than anyone that Paxton had to move on now. Her life hadn’t been the same since her father’s death, and she knew that they didn’t mean to be unkind to her, they were just so different. She was full of fire and life and excitement about everything. And there was a warmth and love in her that she was aching to share with the people around her. But the love she had to give frightened her mother, and George had no idea what to do with it. George and his mother were two of a kind, and Paxton was too much like her father. Queenie felt as though she’d been caring for a rare tropical bird for eighteen years, keeping it warm and safe and alive and feeding it from her very soul, and now she’d set it free, to go to a more hospitable climate. Paxton didn’t belong there anymore, she hadn’t for a long time, and young as she was to leave home at eighteen, Queenie knew she’d be better off without them. There was a whole new world waiting for her out there, and in some ways Queenie could hardly wait for her to find it. But deep in her own heart, she felt the pain of losing her, of not being able to stand right next to her anymore, or look into her eyes in the afternoon, or kiss the silky hair on the top of her head when she sat down to breakfast every morning. But it was a sacrifice she was willing to make because she loved her. And she ran to the windows as she heard them leave, just in time to wave at Paxton, hanging, blond mane and all, as far as she could out the car window.
    Her mother was looking very solemn as they drove out of town, and George said not a word as they headed toward the airport.
    “It’s not too late to change your mind,” her mother said quietly, which may have been her own way of saying she would miss her.
    “I don’t think I can,” Paxton said just as quietly, still thinking of Queenie’s face before she left, and the warmth of her shoulders, the safety of her arms when she hugged her.
    “I’m sure the dean at Sweet Briar would be happy to arrange it,” her mother said frigidly. She still took it as a personal affront that Paxton was leaving the South. It had been insult enough that she wanted to leave Savannah.
    “Maybe if things don’t work out in California,” Paxton said politely, and started to reach out to touch her mother’s hand, and then thought better of it and pulled her hand back. Her mother made no effort to move closer to her, and there was no further conversation on the way to the airport. Paxton knew she was supposed to be consumed with guilt, and she felt sad to leave, but she was also very excited. Lately, she had been hearing a lot of