Relative Strangers (20 page)

They had written the words themselves, promises of a lifetime of love and devotion to each other. The ceremony had a dreamlike quality, yet nothing had ever felt so real. As Lucas pledged himself to her and she murmured her vows in return, Corrie knew she had never in her life done anything more right or been happier.

They kissed and then, still holding hands, turned to face their well-wishers.

“Enjoy already,” Rachel whispered.

But Corrie barely heard her best friend.

There, just at the entrance to the grove, another couple stood hand in hand, beatific smiles on their shimmering faces. “Lucas?” she breathed.

“I see them.”

As Corrie and Lucas watched, the shades of Adrienne and her Lucas grew fainter and fainter and finally faded away entirely. Corrie felt no sadness at this last glimpse of the ghost who’d changed her life. She and her Lucas were reunited at last.

“Till death do us part,” Corrie’s Lucas whispered, “and beyond.”

“Happily ever after,” she pledged, “and happily ever hereafter too.”

This one is for

Elaine Emerson Smith,

with belated apologies for running

away that one Christmas

(but it did give me the idea for

the book)

Copyright © 1997 by Kathy Lynn Emerson

Originally published by Bantam Loveswept

Electronically published in 2003 by Belgrave House

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

No portion of this ebook may be reprinted in whole or in part, by printing, faxing, E-mail, copying electronically or by any other means without permission of the publisher. For more information, contact Belgrave House, 190 Belgrave Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94117-4228

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are used in a fictitious manner or are the products of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is sheer coincidence and beyond the intent of either author or publisher.