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Rebecca sank into the soft folds of the leather couch, stunned by the nitude of Philippe's revelation Deshter He wassomeone he didn't love, just to keep her nearby

Her reporter's instincts digested Philippe's story, searching for flaws, even as Rebecca puzzled over what she would do if he was right She had no doubts that he'd spoken the truth, as far as it went Gillian wasn't permanently cured, and would need a future transplant Dr Chen probably hadof Gillian's would make a better transplant donor than Rebecca But just because the facts were true, didn't make the interpretation of those facts true

She bolted upright Philippe insisted Desmond had married her to have a child, who could act as a donor for Gillian But Desmond had emphatically insisted they take precautions so that Rebecca didn't get pregnant

Her shoulders sluht have hoped he'd already gotten her pregnant Or he ht have wanted to wait until a certain time to have another child

The way she saw it, she had two choices Believe Philippe, believe the worst about the man she'd sworn to honor and cherish all the days of her life, or confront Desmond and demand to know the truth of the situation, the whole truth, without any prevarication When she put it like that, it was obvious that there was no choice, not if she wanted to break out of the pattern set by her mother She had to confront Desmond

Going back to the computer, she printed out a copy of the route she should take to reach hi her that she'd be going underground She clenched the piece of paper in a tight fist, and fought against her memories

She'd been eight years old A heavy rain had shifted a block of shale, exposing a cave Always adventurous, she'd crawled in for a look, but hadn't been able to pull herself back out The shale had cru her hands until she had to take a rest Then the rain had returned, shifting the block of shale again and closing the mouth of the cave to a narrow crack she could never escape through Worse yet, the saturated walls of the cave started cru her in cold, wet roped for another exit, and her questing

hands had encountered the bones of the last creature to fall into the cave

She'd screamed herself hoarse, but no one caht of her life, waiting to die, convinced she would die alone When the searchers had arrived the next th to call to them

She hated going underground Every time, no h those anguished fears of dying a slow, lonely death, and her body being abandoned to rot

Startled by a new interpretation, she repeated it aloud "Being underground is just the trigger to the real fear, of dying alone and forgotten"

If she allowed her fears and insecurities to separate her from Desmond, that's exactly how she would die, alone and unreh her work, when the moment ca

Terrified that she rabbed up her keycard and rushed out of the apartment

DESMOND FOLDED yet another piece of paper ea it next to the analysis of projected des drooped sadly, he picked up another reat fad a few years back He couldn't recall exactly how many years it had been, but he'd been rather skilled at the ti frog, and a piano

He added the newest bird to the flock already collected on his desk, and picked up the paper scrap he'd torn off when he'd squared up the e of pace