The Secret Life of Ceecee Wilkes Part 49

She nodded. "And she had my husband, Jack, for a dad. She couldn't have gotten any luckier than that." She looked down at her hands, then up at him again. "Did you...you were on the run for so long," she said. "Just like I was. What was it like for you? Did you have a good life before they caught up with you?"

He shrugged again. "A good life, maybe," he said. "A peaceful life, no. You can never have peace if you're living a lie."

She nodded, remembering how he'd seduced her with words like those. She was no longer vulnerable to his powers of seduction, but she still knew a good truism when she heard one.

"Right," she said. "I know all about that."

She left the prison after her visit, savoring the suns.h.i.+ne and the open road as she continued her drive to Cory's. She felt freer than she had since Tim's capture nearly two years earlier. Freer than she had since her mother's death so long ago. There were no questions left to answer and nothing to get in the way of the future.

And in another few minutes, she could hold her daughter and grandson in her arms.

Chapter Seventy-One.

Dear CeeCee,I hope you can read my handwriting. I'm having trouble holding the pen now, and I can't sit up in bed very well today.It's so strange to write letters for you to open when you will be so much older than I will ever be. What advice can I possibly give someone with so much more life experience than I have? Maybe I'll just tell you that I will miss not getting to know you as an adult. I'll miss not getting to watch you grow up and to keep you out of trouble as you pa.s.s through your inevitable rebellious stage, to listen to you as you become more introspective and thoughtful, to help you pick out your wedding gown, to hold your babies in my arms, and to be there for you at those moments when life hurts. Just know, darling girl, that if I could, I would call you every day of your life just to say "I love you," with nothing else attached to those words. No criticism. No advice. No requests. Just to say I love you.I think this is the last letter I'll be able to write to you. Maybe I'm wrong, but today is so hard. I can barely breathe, and I think I'm just tired of living. I feel my mind moving from this world to the next. It's not a bad feeling.Let these letters be my legacy to you, CeeCee. I have no money to leave you, just all the loving thoughts in the world. And I know the legacy you leave your children will be ten times richer.I love you with all my heart, Mom

Also by Diane Chamberlain

SECRETS SHE LEFT BEHIND.

BEFORE THE STORM.

THE BAY AT MIDNIGHT.

HER MOTHER'S SHADOW KISS RIVER.

KEEPER OF THE LIGHT.

CYPRESS POINT.

THE COURAGE TREE.

SUMMER'S CHILD BREAKING THE SILENCE.