A Dangerous Widow (A Dangerous Series) Read Free Page B

God, Michael…”
    “Kate,” Anna said.  
    “Please leave me alone,” Kate said in
despair.   Her heart was literally
breaking at that point.   Tears
streamed down her face as an overwhelming sense of grief overcame her.   “Let me have this moment alone with
him.   Please!”
    “Of course,” Anna said as she retreated to a
corner of the room.
    But Kate barely heard her.   She pulled the sheet back farther and
saw how Michael’s neck was bent in an unnatural position.  
    “I’m so sorry,” she said as she cried.   “I’m so sorry, Michael.   How am I to carry on without you?   How am I even to wake up without you by
my side?   Why did this have to
happen to you?   To us?   We haven’t even had a child yet!   That was to come this year!   Why the fuck has this happened?!” she
screamed.   “It’s not
right—it’s not fair.   I love
you, my darling.   I hope that you
know that—that you can hear me even now, wherever you are, hopefully in
this room with me.   I will love you
until the end of my life.   And when
that day comes, we’ll be together again.   I can promise you that.   So,
go,” she said.   “Set yourself free.   I know how you are—you’re only
going to worry about me.   You’ll
want to stay near me.   But
don’t.   Somehow, I’ll get through
this.   Go and live out the rest of
your life in the afterlife.   See
your family and friends again.   Tell
your grandparents that I love and miss them.   I’ll be with you soon enough.”
    After the long moments it took for her to
collect herself, Kate Stone lowered her lips to her husband’s cool lips, and
she kissed him in death while her gut clenched in despair.  
    When she finished, she placed the palm of
her hand on the floor to steady herself, carefully wrapped the sheet around his
body in such a way that cradled him as he lay there, and then bowed her head
and burst into the sort of tears, grief, anger, and loss that would echo
throughout her heart for the rest of her life.

 

 
    BOOK ONE

FIVE YEARS LATER

KATE’S STORY

 

 
 
 
 
 
    CHAPTER ONE

 
    New York City
    May

 
    After a long, cold winter and an unreasonably
chilly spring, I woke with a smile, knowing that at last it would be in the
high seventies for the rest of the week.   Finally, we were in for a great stretch of weather.
    And I was psyched for it.
    I got out of bed, went straight to one of
the bedroom’s two windows, whipped aside the curtains, and looked out at the
Park.   The sky was blue.   The sun was bright.   And when I placed the palm of my hand
against the window, I could feel the day’s warmth pulsing against it.
    Lunch with Laura at noon?   Bring it on.
    I showered, went down to the kitchen, made
coffee, read bits and pieces from the Times , and
then went into my office to read and answer a host of emails from the team I
managed as Director of Corporate Gifts at the Red Cross in Manhattan.  
    When I sat down at my desk, I caught sight
of the photograph of Michael sitting next to my computer—and once again
felt the sting of his loss.  
    Five years might have passed since his
death, but I still loved him, I still missed him, and even though years of
therapy had helped me to realize that I must move on with my life, I had to
wonder whether I’d ever meet anyone as magnificent as he had been.   I doubted it, but I knew that if Michael
were to whisper into my ear right then, he would have told me that I should
have moved on years ago.
    “I can understand mourning me for a year,”
he would have said with that sly sense of humor of his.   “I mean, I’m totally worth that.   But five years?   Come on, Kate—I’m gone now, and
it’s time for you to move on and find somebody else.”
    Could I?   There were times when I struggled with
the idea of being with someone other than Michael.   A part of me wanted to be married again
and to raise the family that Michael and I had been robbed of having, but