“I’m sorry about the way things turned out,” Steve said.
“About your not getting the money, I mean.”
Julia smiled at him. “I don’t really need a hundred chefs.”
“You’re not disappointed that your trip here was wasted?”
She looked up at him. “Was it wasted, Steve?”
They never knew who made the first move, but she was in his arms, and he was holding her, and they were kissing.
“I’ve been wanting to do this since the first time I saw you.”
Julia shook her head. “The first time you saw me, you told me to get out of town!”
He grinned. “I did, didn’t I? I don’t ever want you to leave.”
And she thought of Sally’s words. “Don’t you know if the man proposed?” “Is that a proposal?” Julia asked.
He held her tighter. “You bet it is. Will you marry me?”
“Oh, yes!”
Kendall came out to the patio. She was holding a piece of paper in her hand.
“I…I just got this in the mail.”
Steve looked at her, worried. “Not another…?”
“No. I’ve been voted Women’s Wear Designer of the Year.”
Woody and Kendall and Julia and Steve were seated at the dining-room table. All around them workmen were moving chairs and couches, and carrying them off.
Steve turned to Woody. “What are you going to do now?”
“I’m going back to Hobe Sound. First, I’m going to check in with Dr. Tichner. Then a friend of mine has a string of ponies that I’m going to ride.”
Kendall looked at Julia. “Are you going back to Kansas City?”
When I was a little girl, Julia thought, I wished that someone would take me out of Kansas and bring me to a magical place where I would find my prince. She took Steve’s hand. “No,” Julia said. “I’m not going back to Kansas.”
They watched two men take down the huge portrait of Harry Stanford.
“I never did like that picture,” Woody said.
BOOKS BY SIDNEY SHELDON
Morning, Noon, and Night
Nothing Lasts Forever
The Stars Shine Down
The Doomsday Conspiracy
Memories of Midnight
The Sands of Time
Windmills of the Gods
If Tomorrow Comes
Master of the Game
Rage of Angels
Bloodline
A Stranger in the Mirror
The Other Side of Midnight
The Naked Face