Read To Eternity for Free Online Page A

Magnus?”
    â€œGood grief, no. We’ll make our own.” The low chuckle in response warmed his blood. “I do think I’ve discovered a surprise of my own to share with you. One I hope you’ll understand.”
    â€œOf course, I will. I’ll meet you for lunch. You can tell me all about it then. I’m afraid I have to go. The bass player in Dreams is having a bit of a meltdown. His girlfriend is in rehab and he doesn’t want to be too far away from her for too long. I need to dole out a lot of reassurance.”
    â€œNo doubt he will be grateful. You’re so good at reassurance. I’ll meet you in the dining room at one.” He set the phone down. When focused on others in this way, her voice always made him smile. Part of his desire for her originated from her rare generosity of spirit. His confidence she would understand what he’d discovered this morning remained high.
    Sian’s passion for beauty encapsulated the needs of body and spirit as well as aesthetic pleasures. He’d never met another woman like her. Julia had demonstrated a similar ability to meet him in dreams, but she had possessed nothing like Sian’s talents to control him, or the bountiful spirit to offer herself in such an unconditional way. Julia had never given herself in the same manner, despite her promises of love. When faced with the question of their marriage, Julia had obeyed the will of her father, who had thought him a wastrel, and she had declined. He shrugged his shoulders. The heartbreak from so long ago seemed as though it belonged to another person, yet at the time he’d thought her refusal permanently stole every hope of joy.
    No, not that, for he had dreamed and hoped still, even when he reached Italy. Julia had dreamed with him. When those interactions ceased, he’d been full of fears for her. His return from the continent to find Julia dead shattered him.
    Sian was something so much more than Julia had ever been, vibrant and stronger, too. His feelings for her were…like the first time he saw electric light in London in the late nineteenth century and understood what it meant. She was his true mate. He could taste it, feel it stronger inside with every day they shared.
    The agony of the question plaguing him clenched an iron fist around his heart. To make her his forever, he must offer her the bite of the beast. A shiver rolled down his spine.
    Not yet. She must be sure in her decision and…she was so much younger than him. Even though she thought herself ready, he doubted she understood all she would lose.
    He gazed back down to the image of the Green Girl’s director. Another cloud of concerns to mull over, but simple in comparison to the dilemma he and Sian faced. She would understand the circumstance regarding Dorothy. Perhaps she’d recognize his need to take things a step further so he could find out the truth.
    The prospect of a living connection to his past warmed his heart. Bonfire Night tomorrow, the fifth. There would be fireworks in the village, though he never attended the pub display. He liked standing up on the roof walkway to watch, yet sometimes the thunder of noise brought back so many recollections of the war, he crept back into the house filled with sorrowful memories. Not of the second war when he’d known Dorothy Fowler, but the first when he’d known no one but servants and the lads who made up his company in the mud-bath trenches of Verdun and the Somme.
    He shook his head and glanced at the computer. An age must have passed since he thought of the pals he’d led, encouraged, and marched with through the mire as they made their way from one battle to the next. Pursing his lips, he whistled the first few notes of “It’s a Long Way to Tipperary,” astonished he recalled the tune with such ease. He must be growing sentimental. He hit the touch screen to refresh his search and focused.
    Artifacts for the