Across the River of Yesterday

about the rain forest. How she always filled her world with flowers and tried to make the best of life. It reminded me of some of the things you said to me on the beach.'

She crossed the room and dropped to her knees on the mattress beside him. 'What things? I remember rambling on about any number of subjects.'

'About coming to terms with the past.' His gaze met her own with grave tranquility. 'I realized I'd been so busy running away from the memory of Na Peng that I was letting it poison my judgment of the present. So I walked back through the rain forest and tried to see what Kate had seen here. The flowers and the birds, the sounds and… the beauty.'

'Did it work?'

'Not at first. My stomach was tied in knots; I felt sick. I wanted you beside me, holding my hand.'

She reached out and gathered both of his hands, threading her fingers through his in a silent bonding. 'I'll hold your hands now. I'll hold them forever.'

'Forever. You finally got around to saying it.'

She smiled shakily. 'I'm a little slow, but I always manage to get there eventually.'

'So do I.' Gideon's smile was warm and tender, lighting up the room, lighting up the world. 'After a while I found it got better and, by the time I got to the tree house, I was seeing Kate's world as she had seen it. The ugliness was gone, lost somewhere in the past. It's possible that it may not stay lost and I may need a little help to push it back when-'

'When it tries to ambush you?' Serena finished softly. 'Once upon a time a very wise man told me that whenever the ugliness comes back, all we have to do is think of something beautiful and it will fade away again.'

He chuckled. 'I'm wonderful at solving other people's problems. But I'm lucky, I don't have to think of something beautiful. I have it right in front of me.' He bent his head and kissed her with lingering sweetness. 'Say you love me again. I like to hear it.'

'I love you,' she whispered. 'Ill always love you and stand beside you. I'll give you my strengths and my weaknesses, my mind and my heart. There won't be a day or a month or a year I won't need and want you and not a second when you won't fill my life. Is that enough for you?'

He smiled with a joy as radiant as the emotion reflected on her face. 'No, but it will do for a start. You've got the next seventy years or so to get it right.'

She laughed. She felt wild and free and positively dizzy with happiness. 'You're a hard man to please.'

'Not at the moment.' He pulled her into his arms. 'I couldn't be more pleased at the moment.'

'Are we going back to the cottage?' She snuggled closer into his arms. 'Jeffrey said he'd wait for us there. I guess we should be thinking about starting for Santa Isabella and beginning to make plans.'

'Soon.' His warm lips brushed her temple and his hand began to stroke the dark silk of her hair. 'Now I think we'll sit here for a while and smell the flowers and listen to the birds and just be together. We can think about the future tomorrow. Right now, the present seems mighty sweet to me.'

Serena closed her eyes in sublime contentment and relaxed against his lean, hard strength. All the dark yesterdays had faded into oblivion and all the bright tomorrows were yet to come. They could rest and enjoy what they had won.

For a long, long time, they sat in the tree house, surrounded by flowers, the song of the birds, and the magical reality of their love. And she discovered that Gideon was right. The present was more than sweet enough.

Iris Johansen

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