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The voice made him shiver. Footsteps retreated. Chris opened one eye, then the other. He took a deep breath. |
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Alone on the deserted street he stood. Alone but for the bodies of his parents in two heaps on the sidewalk. |
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Josie blinked and the scene disappeared. Her chest ached from the agony within her. While observing Christian's past, Josie had been able to feel every emotion experienced by the participants in the action. She'd identified with the love of Marianne and Brian for each other, reveled in the love of the elder McCalls for their son and his for them, and been sickened by the cold hatred and calculated cruelty of the young men who had ended the lives of two shining souls. |
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Exhausted from the trauma, Josie looked up in mute appeal to meet Raphael's sad gaze. Tears ran unchecked down their cheeks. |
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"Do you see now why he is as he is?" Raphael asked. "He's made his parents' love into the icon for his own life. One of the last things Christian's father asked of him was that he wait for the right woman. The boy's perfect family life was torn asunder in a horrid and violent manner. He's been searching for a return to such stability ever since that night." |
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"How horrible. The poor child." |
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"Christian might have gotten over the incident more easily if he hadn't been placed with a foster family who only proved to him what marrying someone without love can do to you. The Rousseaus married because Carol became pregnant. They had noth- |
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