Christmas, Present by Jacquelyn Mitchard Page A

has forgotten her,” the red-haired dentist interrupted. “Look what you’re doing here. That matters. It’s a lovely memorial. It’s wonderful you’re still mindful of her. And . . . if you don’t care too much, I’ll wait with you. All of you.”
    Elliott poured thimble-sized heaps of ash into each of the girls’ hands. One by one, they opened their hands, brushing their palms as the sky darkened and the moon’s ghostly crooked smile appeared. Elliott

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    breathed slowly, out and in, then out again, no longer quite able to summon Laura’s voice or her scent, but grateful he had kept a promise he had never believed he would keep, kept it through the good grace of Laura. Then he emptied the bag, blowing gently on the last particles, dispersing them in the dusk, until they disappeared into the first twinkling of nightfall in the City of Lights. Laura was in Paris.
    “I’ll walk down with you now,” Elliott said, offering a handshake, forgetting, then blushing, drawing it back. “My hand may still have . . . I’m Elliott. Je m’ap- pelle Elliott.”
    “That’s all right,” said the dentist, reaching out, tak- ing his hand in a firm clasp. “I don’t mind. I’m Amy.”

    Acknowledgments

    G

    reat thanks to my beloved cousins—the few, the odd, the Mitchards—and the days and nights in Tuscany that inspired this story. And to my family, who endured the snowy, terrifying night on the Big Dig that set the stage. And, as ever, and forever, I am nothing without Jane, Patti, Marjorie, and Cathy,
    muses of all work.

    ix
    About the Author

    Jacquelyn Mitchard is the New York Times -bestselling author of A Theory of Relativity , The Deep End of the Ocean , and The Most Wanted . She is also the author of The Rest of Us: Dispatches From the Mother Ship , a collection of her columns that have appeared in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel for more than a decade. She lives in Madison, Wisconsin with her husband and six children. Visit her at www.jacquelynmitchardbooks.com.
    By Jacquelyn Mitchard

    Christmas, Present
    A Theory of Relativity
    The Deep End of the Ocean The Rest of Us
    The Most Wanted
    Credits

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