Authors: Danielle Steel
Southern Lights (36 page)
On Christmas Eve, Sybil arrived with her small army at Muriel’s apartment. The only ones she didn’t bring were the parrot and the dogs. She had all five children and John’s girlfriend, who had come with him from London again. Brian had brought his niece unexpectedly, and two grown children from a first marriage Alexa hadn’t known about, and they all crowded into Muriel and Stan’s apartment and drank eggnog and champagne. Muriel told Sybil how much she liked her books, Brian and Stan talked about favorite old movies and fly-fishing, John and his girlfriend were talking to Savannah, and Ashley, Edward’s daughter, was fighting with her boyfriend in California on her cell phone and crying. It was total chaos, and Alexa stood back, watching it with Edward, and laughed.
“My family has certainly grown. Last Christmas was just me, Savannah, and my mom. Stanley came by after dinner, he had to visit a sick friend.”
“What do you like better?” Edward asked her honestly. “That or this?”
“This,” she said without hesitation. “It’s so alive and so happy and so loving.” And the next thing she knew, her mother had suggested they order Chinese takeout and camp out in her kitchen and on the living room floor. She had put a small turkey in the oven, which they could eat the next day. Sybil and her troops loved the idea and voted to stay, and scrap their own dinner at home, which Sybil said was a mess anyway.
The young people sat on the floor in Muriel’s living room. The grown-ups sat in the dining room, which only seated eight. And somehow it all worked. It was the best Christmas Alexa had ever had, even better than the good days in Charleston.
They left Savannah at her mother’s for one more night, and Edward and Alexa walked to the Carlyle as it started snowing. They sang “White Christmas” together off-key and he stopped on the street and kissed her. It was the happiest Christmas of her life, and he felt the same way. He had loved being married to Sybil in the beginning. But this was better, it was more grown-up. And sometimes Sybil was a little too wild, even for him, although he loved her dearly.
“Maybe it’ll keep snowing and we can have a snowball fight tomorrow,” Alexa said, sounding hopeful, with a hand tucked into his arm.
“I don’t think so,” Edward said, looking down at her with a serious expression.
“No? Why not? Don’t you like snowball fights?” It seemed so unlike him not to. He was a good sport about everything else.
“I do like snowball fights,” he conceded, as he stopped walking again and looked at her. “I just don’t know if it’s a good idea for a senator’s wife to be lobbing snowballs at people in the park. You might hit a stranger and wind up on the news.” Her eyes opened wide as he said it. “What do you think about that?” he asked softly.
“The snowball fight?” she asked breathlessly.
“No…the other…the senator’s wife thing. Does that sound too crazy?” He knew how terrified she was of marriage, but he was sure now himself. He had waited a long time to find her. Sybil was right. Alexa was the one. The perfect one for him.
“I…yes…no…” She stumbled on her words, and he kissed her again. “Yes. I mean no. No, it doesn’t sound too crazy…and yes, I want to.” She was crying and laughing when he kissed her again, and then with her hand tucked tightly into his arm, they walked into the Carlyle. Alexa was grinning broadly, and looked ecstatic, despite the butterflies doing somersaults in her stomach, and the senator from South Carolina looked extremely pleased.
Southern Lights
is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2009 by Danielle Steel
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Delacorte Press, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
D
ELACORTE
P
RESS
is a registered trademark of Random House, Inc., and the colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Steel, Danielle.
Southern lights : a novel / Danielle Steel. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
eISBN: 978-0-440-33911-3
1. Public prosecutors—New York (State)—New York—Fiction. 2. Divorced
women—Fiction. 3. Single mothers—Fiction. 4. Trials (murder)—Fiction.
5. Serial murderers—Fiction. 6. Mothers and daughters—Fiction.
7. Rich people—South Carolina—Charleston—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3569.T33828S65 2009
813′.54—dc22
2009020768
v3.0
Also by Danielle Steel
MATTERS OF THE HEART • ONE DAY AT A TIME • A GOOD WOMAN
ROGUE • HONOR THYSELF • AMAZING GRACE • BUNGALOW 2
SISTERS • H.R.H. • COMING OUT • THE HOUSE • TOXIC BACHELORS
MIRACLE • IMPOSSIBLE • ECHOES • SECOND CHANCE • RANSOM
SAFE HARBOUR • JOHNNY ANGEL • DATING GAME
ANSWERED PRAYERS • SUNSET IN ST. TROPEZ • THE COTTAGE
THE KISS • LEAP OF FAITH • LONE EAGLE • JOURNEY
THE HOUSE ON HOPE STREET • THE WEDDING
IRRESISTIBLE FORCES • GRANNY DAN • BITTERSWEET
MIRROR IMAGE • HIS BRIGHT LIGHT :
The Story of Nick Traina
THE KLONE AND I • THE LONG ROAD HOME • THE GHOST
SPECIAL DELIVERY • THE RANCH • SILENT HONOR • MALICE
FIVE DAYS IN PARIS • LIGHTNING • WINGS • THE GIFT • ACCIDENT
VANISHED • MIXED BLESSINGS • JEWELS • NO GREATER LOVE
HEARTBEAT • MESSAGE FROM NAM • DADDY • STAR • ZOYA
KALEIDOSCOPE • FINE THINGS • WANDERLUST • SECRETS
FAMILY ALBUM • FULL CIRCLE • CHANGES • THURSTON HOUSE
CROSSINGS • ONCE IN A LIFETIME • A PERFECT STRANGER
REMEMBRANCE • PALOMINO • LOVE :
POEMS
• THE RING
LOVING • TO LOVE AGAIN • SUMMER’S END
SEASON OF PASSION • THE PROMISE • NOW AND FOREVER
PASSION’S PROMISE • GOING HOME