Даниэла Стил - Turning Point

“I’m not unhappy enough to leave him,” she said honestly. Or she never had been until now. But what if Gabriel was right, and Andy was the wrong man, or they had outgrown each other? Their life together seemed so dreary to her now. His writing career had stalled, and she sensed that Andy blamed her, or was jealous of the fact that her career was going well. But she worked harder than he did, and was more determined to succeed than he was. Stephanie was more ambitious, and Andy was more of an artist. She used to find it charming, but she no longer did. Gabriel was a powerful man in a powerful position, it made him infinitely more attractive to her than Andy with no real job, and nothing but dreams about his writing. She felt guilty for everything she was thinking. Gabriel was temptation personified, and she was having trouble resisting. That had never happened to her before, but she had never met a man like him.

“Let’s not waste what’s been given to us, Stephanie,” he said gently. “Something like this doesn’t happen more than once in a lifetime, for soul mates to meet. What if we were meant to be together? We will regret it forever if we don’t follow our hearts.” There was more than her heart involved, and he knew it too. It was a powerful physical attraction that had hit her like a tidal wave. She had come to Paris to work, and was being swept away by a handsome Frenchman. She felt like this was a movie, and she was afraid of how it would end. She couldn’t ignore the fact that he was married too. They had the potential to create a huge mess if they gave in to what they were feeling. She had been sensible and responsible all her life. And suddenly she didn’t want to be. She was doing everything she could to resist him.

“We don’t have to make any decisions,” he said in a voice that was smooth as silk. “This is only the beginning. You’ll be here for a month, let’s see where this goes. We have time. And I’m coming to San Francisco for a month. By then we’ll know what we should do.” What he said almost sounded sensible if she was willing to get out of her marriage, but that was a huge decision. She couldn’t do that for a man she had known for five minutes. But he was right, in the next two months, they would know if it was real or an illusion. The prospect was exciting and terrifying, and while she thought about it, he kissed her again.

He drove her home after that and walked her to her door. He stood smiling at her for a minute, and gently touched her lips with his own, but didn’t ask to come in.

“Thank you for dinner,” she said, looking confused. She had never been as tempted in her life to do something so utterly crazy.

“I’ll call you tomorrow,” he said gently, and watched her go inside.

When she got into her apartment, she sat down on her bed with a dazed look, and tears slid slowly down her cheeks. She didn’t know if she was happy or sad. She missed Andy, and the boys, and their safe, familiar world. But she wanted to be in Gabriel’s arms and to let him kiss her again. She had no idea what to do and just sat there and cried.

—

When Bill got to St. Pancras Station, he took a taxi to Athena and Rupert’s house on Belgrave Square. He had the cab wait for him while he rang the doorbell, and Athena answered it with a look of surprise, as though he were the Ghost of Christmas Past.

“Oh right, I forgot…I thought you said tomorrow morning.” She was as beautiful as ever, with a halo of blond hair around her exquisite face. He always forgot how stunning she was, until he saw her again. She had hardly changed in the years he had known her, and she smiled as their daughters came bounding down the stairs and screamed with delight when they saw their father and threw themselves into his arms. Bill beamed as he held them for a minute, and Athena told him to come in, while she helped the girls finish packing their bags. She glanced at him again over her shoulder with a look he remembered only too well, as she walked up the stairs. It was the look that had torn his heart out a thousand times. She was a beautiful woman, but she was never meant to be his. She waved him toward the library while he waited for them, and he wandered around the room, admiring the paintings and the books. The house was magnificent, and Rupert had spoiled her. It was a far cry from their cozy little Victorian in Noe Valley, or his stark apartment now.

Bill knew he would never have provided a home like this for her, although he could have one day. But this wasn’t how he wanted to live. It reminded him of his parents’ townhouse in New York, or his brother’s apartment on Fifth Avenue. He was different from them, and always had been. There was something missing in him. He had no desire to live in luxury or show off. He loved his work at SF General, the real people he worked with, and the outdoors. Athena’s parents had been right. He would never have been able to keep her for long. He had been the wrong man. He had suited her for a minute in her rebellious days as a twenty-three-year-old. She had now become everything she’d grown up with, and he never wanted. He wouldn’t have chosen to live this way, even for her. It woke him up to the fact that the years he had mourned her had been wasted. He would never have fallen in love with her if he met her now, no matter how beautiful she was. She was someone to admire, like a magnificent piece of art, but not to have.

She came back down the stairs with Pip and Alex five minutes later, carrying the bags they were taking to the hotel. They were excited to be going with him, and Athena smiled at him again.

“I’m sorry to get here so late,” he said to her as the girls circled them like puppies.

“It’s fine, Rupert is hunting in Scotland this weekend. I always eat late. What are you doing in Paris?”

“Attending a conference on terrorism and emergency services, to compare with ours in the States.” She made a face and laughed. She had never liked his specialty, and he remembered his father-in-law’s suggestion that he give up medicine and come to work for him. That had never been an option for him, not even to keep her.

“It sounds dreadful,” she said and laughed, and they looked at each other for a moment, wondering how they had ever gotten married. But he was glad that they had, with Pip and Alex as the result.

“It’s actually very interesting. You would hate it.” He laughed, relieved. He finally felt free of her. It had taken years. The girls were anxious to leave then, and Athena looked at him in that enchanting way of hers that used to make his heart pound, but it no longer did, which was a comfort now.

“Have a wonderful weekend,” she said and kissed the girls.

“We will,” he said as he smiled at his daughters. “I’ll bring them home on Sunday afternoon. I’m catching a four o’clock train back to Paris. And I’ll be here again next weekend. The weekend after, I’d like them to come to Paris.” He had emailed it all to her, but she was never good at making plans, or remembering them when she did. She lived in a world all her own.

“See you next weekend, then. I’ll be out on Sunday when you bring them home.” She waved as they hurried down the stairs to the taxi waiting at the curb, and he caught a last glimpse of her as she closed the door. She was the woman he had loved so passionately, and mourned for so long. It was a relief to realize that he no longer loved her, and that seeing her no longer hurt. There was a wonderful feeling of freedom to it, as he put an arm around each of his girls, and they sped toward the hotel, talking about everything they were going to do over the weekend. His time with his daughters was what he lived for. It was perfect. He was happy as they walked into the hotel. There wasn’t a woman in the world who could make him feel that way.