Granny Dan

So much I never knew … so many dreams I never could have imagined. She was indeed a mystery. I have the pieces now … the trunk … the shoes … the locket … and the letters … but she kept the rest with her, the memories, the victories, the people she loved so much. My only regret is how little I knew about her when I was with her, how ignorant of her past.

Granny Dan, the woman she was to me, will live on in my heart forever. The woman she was before that belonged to other people. They took her with them, and she kept them close to her, in her heart, in her spirit, in letters and a locket. She must have loved him still to take the letters to the nursing home with her, and the locket with his picture. She must have read the letters even then, or perhaps after so many years of reading them, she knew them by heart.

And now, when I close my eyes, she is not old … her dresses are not black or frayed … she is no longer baking cookies … she is smiling at me, as young and beautiful as she once was … and she is dancing in her toe shoes, as Nikolai Obrajensky smiles, and watches. And I believe that somewhere now, they are together at last.

DANIELLE STEEL has been hailed as one of the world's most popular authors, with over 420 million copies of her novels sold. Her many international bestsellers include The Wedding, Irresistible Forces, Bittersweet, Mirror Image, The Klone and I, The Long Road Home, The Ghost, Special Delivery, The Ranch, and other highly acclaimed novels. She is also the author of His Bright Light, the story of her son Nick Traina's life and death.

a cognizant original v5 release october 14 2010

Published by

Dell Publishing

a division of

Random House, Inc.

1540 Broadway

New York, New York 10036

This novel 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 © 1999 by Danielle Steel

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law. For information address: Delacorte Press, New York, New York.

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eISBN: 978-0-307-56647-8

v3.0

Table of Contents

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Epilogue