Magic Hour, Susan Isaacs [life changing books txt] 📗

Bonnie?”

“Be my guest,” he said.

I could sense her waking as I opened the door. I came in and sat on the edge of the bed. “You’re beautiful,” I said.

“Sure. It’s pitch black in here.” Bonnie stuck her hand out and groped for a lamp. She turned it on and squeezed her eyes shut at the light. She looked like Mr. Magoo. “Now say it.”

“You’re beautiful. I love you. What was the third thing?”

“I’m a truly fine person.” The base of the lamp was a big china chicken. She turned it off.

“You’re a truly fine person,” I said.

“I told Gideon not to let you up here.”

“I told him I was going to tell you I loved you, so I became his pal. Anything I want. His house is my house. His chicken lamp is my chicken lamp.” I turned it on again and pulled down the sheet a little. She’d taken off my T-shirt.

She pulled the sheet all the way up. “Listen, I guess you’ll be hearing this a lot, but I’m sorry about your brother. I’m sure it’s going to be very painful for your family, and it’s too bad you can’t be spared that.”

“Thank you. It’s too bad you couldn’t have been spared your pain.”

“Thank you,” she said. “I don’t want to seem insensitive, but I’d like you to leave now.”

“Why? Are you going to cry or something?”

Bonnie gave me an angry nudge. Some nudge. It 450 / SUSAN ISAACS

practically knocked me off the bed. “You want to hang around and watch?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, I don’t want you to. I want you to go.”

“I can’t. I promised Gideon I’d ask you to marry me.”

“Well, ask me and then get out.”

“All right. Will you marry me?”

Somehow, all of a sudden, she knew. She didn’t make any wisecracks about my having a previous engagement. She didn’t tell me to leave. She just said “Yes,” but then she told me I couldn’t kiss her because she had sleep breath. I kissed her anyway. It was a sweet and beautiful kiss. After it was over, she asked, “Am I really beautiful? Objectively.”

“No.”

“Am I really a truly fine person?”

“You’re not bad.”

I stood up, took off my clothes and got into bed.

“Do you really love me?”

“More than anything in the world, Bonnie.”

“I’ve known that for years, Stephen.”

And together we turned off the chicken lamp, and we began our life.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I sought advice and information from the people listed below. All of them gave it freely and cheerfully. I want to thank Arlene Abramowitz, Janice Asher, Peter Corwith, Lawrence Goldman, Maddy Kahn, Susan Lawton, Neil Leinwohl, Tony Lepsis, Fr. Thomas McCarthy, Bob Mitchell, Catherine and Robert Morvillo, Saundra and Herschel Saperstein, Cynthia Scott, Abby Singer, Dustin Beall Smith, N. T. Thayer, Sr., William Wexler, and Frank and Lisa Cronin Wohl.

A hug and a kiss to my great pal Frank Perry who taught me about making movies.

A salute to the police officers who answered my technical questions. Unlike Detective Stephen Brady, they were all straight shooters and gentlemen. I apologize if I twisted the facts to fit my fiction. Thanks to Detective-Lieutenant Eugene Dolan of the Nassau County Police, Captain William Kilfoyle and Officer Alan Paxton of the Port Washington (New York) Police, Lieutenant William P. Kiley and Captain John McEl-hone of the Suffolk County Police, and Sergeant William Crowley of the Southampton Town Police.

The staffs of The Hampton Library in Bridgehampton and the Port Washington (New York) Public Library were unfailingly courteous and helpful.

A special thank you to Paul Brennan, who was generous enough to share his memories of growing up in Bridgehampton with me.

My assistant, AnneMarie Palmer, deserves cheers, bouquets, standing ovations, and whatever else she might want for her hard work and grace under pressure.

Owen Laster, my agent, manages to be both hard-headed and kindhearted. He is truly a class act.

Larry Ashmead is a great editor. All writers should be as lucky as I am.

My children, Andrew and Betsy Abramowitz, are no longer children. I thank them for their wise and perceptive editorial comments and, of course, for their love.

Finally, in case anyone is curious about who the best person in the world is, it is still my husband, Elkan Abramowitz.

About the Author

SUSAN ISAACS has written eight novels, including her latest, Red, White, and Blue. Her other bestselling books are After All These Years, Compromising Positions, Shining Through, Magic Hour, Close Relations, Almost Paradise, and Lily White. She lives on Long Island.

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BY SUSAN ISAACS

NOVELS

Compromising Positions

Close Relations*

Almost Paradise

Shining Through

Magic Hour*

After All These Years*

Lily White*

Red, White, and Blue*

SCREENPLAYS

Compromising Positions

Hello Again

*Published by HarperCollins Publishers

Copyright

This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

MAGIC HOUR. Copyright © 1991 by Susan Isaacs. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen.

No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader June 2008

ISBN 978-0-06-171291-3

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Document Outline

Title Page

Dedication Page

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter