Nine Lives - Danielle Steel Page 0,27
gone because there was a convention there to justify it.
She called Helen when she hung up with the travel agent. “Okay, I did it. I leave from O’Hare to San Francisco. I’m going to rent a car and check out Big Sur and the Napa Valley. I’m staying at the Fairmont on Nob Hill, and I’m flying from there to Rome five days later, staying at the Hassler above the Spanish Steps. A week there, then to Paris, staying at the Ritz, and then Claridge’s in London and home.”
“I’m proud of you,” Helen said and meant it. “I couldn’t afford all that when Jenna died, but I got a Eurail pass and traveled all over Europe for a summer. I felt alive again after that, went back to school and finished, and then I met Jeff in my first job after I graduated. I don’t think I’d have been the same person if I hadn’t taken that trip. I didn’t think I had permission to live or have fun after she died. And then I realized that she would have wanted me to. She didn’t want me to mourn her forever. And she would have done it if I died.”
“Brad would never have gone on a trip like this if I died,” Maggie said. “He’d have hated it.”
“No, but he might have gone to Hawaii, or Wyoming or Montana, or Mexico for a vacation.”
“He might have,” Maggie conceded.
“You have to give yourself permission to go on living. This is a terrific way to do it. And maybe you’ll meet the man of your dreams,” she teased her.
“Brad was the man of my dreams,” she said sadly.
“I know he was,” Helen said, instantly respectful. “But you can’t bury yourself with him. That’s not good for you or Aden. Your doing something like this trip gives him permission to still have fun too.”
Maggie smiled. “I think Aden Mackenzie needs a little less permission to have fun,” she said ruefully, and they both laughed.
For the next three weeks, Maggie read up on the cities she was going to, and still couldn’t believe she was doing it. She told Aden, and he was shocked but supportive.
“That’s fantastic, Mom. I want to go to Europe with you one day. Some of the guys from home are talking about going next summer. I want to go with them. Maybe we can meet up.” Suddenly she was becoming a world traveler, and Aden even wanted to join her on a future trip. Maybe she’d go to Venice next summer, and Spain, or Scandinavia. The whole world seemed to be opening up in front of her. And she was seeing it all in the safest, most comfortable way. Brad had made that possible with the money he’d left her. She didn’t like to think about the settlement money and the reason for it. She considered it untouchable and wanted to leave it to Aden one day, and she certainly didn’t need it. She had more than enough from their savings, his insurance, and what Phil Abrams was paying her regularly.
She packed for Europe before she left for parents’ weekend in Boston. The flight was a little easier this time, since she had already flown twice, and had never been a nervous flyer before. It was good practice before the flights she’d be taking in Europe, which had concerned her. She had a wonderful time with Aden and his new friends. She and Aden took several of them out to dinner, and then she flew home to Lake Forest, spent two nights at home, and left for San Francisco. She had bought some new clothes for the trip, nothing fancy, just some comfortable sports clothes to travel in, some pretty sweaters, and new jeans. Everything had been set up. Her reservations had been confirmed.
She drank a glass of champagne to steady her nerves on the flight to San Francisco. She had called Helen the night before she left, promised to text her along the way, and thanked her for giving her the courage to do it. Encouraging her to go was the best gift anyone had given her since Brad died.
As the plane touched down in San Francisco on a glorious fall day, Maggie was smiling. She got off with a bright red tote bag she’d just bought, and headed for the first stop on her big adventure. She knew as she headed toward the city in the car she had rented at the airport, that