Adrienne...last night, after you went to sleep, I got to thinking that maybe I could stay a little while longer. Another month or two isn't going to make much difference, and that way we could be together_
"No", she said. "You can't do that to Mark. Not after all that you have been through. And you need this, Paul. It's been eating you up; if you don't go now, part of me wonders if you ever will. Spending time with me isn't going to make it any easier to say good-bye when the time comes, and I couldn't live with myself knowing that I was the one who kept you and your son apart.
Even though it's hard, both of us also know it's the right thing to do-that's the way it is when you're a parent. Sometimes there are sacrifices you have to make, and this is one of them."
"I don't know how or why it happened, but I think I was meant to come here," he said. "To meet you. For so many years, I've been missing something in my life, but I didn't know what it was. And now I do."
Her time in Rodanthe had changed her in other ways as well. Being with Paul had healed her feelings of loss and betrayal over the divorce and replaced them with something stronger and more graceful. Knowing that she was worthy of being loved made it easier to hold her head high, and as her confidence grew, she was able to speak to Jack without hidden meanings or insinuations, without the blame and regret that she'd been unable to hide in her tone in the past. When Jack and Linda divorced, Adrienne had been there to help him through his grief, and she'd even allowed him to stay in the guest bedroom when he came over to see the kids. Ironically, Linda had left him for another man...
Dear Adrienne, As I sit here, I realize that I don't even know how I'm supposed to begin a letter like this. After all, we've never met, and though I know of you through my father, It's not the same.
My father talked about you all the time, and I can only imagine how many letters he must have sent you. He loved you, but I'm sure you know that.
Somehow, you changed my father, and because of you, I wouldn't trade this last year for anything. I don't know how you did it, but you made my father into a man that I miss already. You saved him, and by doing so, I guess that in a way, you saved me as well.
He was at the outreach clinic because of me, you know. It was absolutely terrible that night. It had been raining for days, roads everywhere washing out in the mud. When I radioed the main clinic to say that I couldn't make it back because my Jeep wouldn't start, and that a major mudslide was imminent, he was the one who commandeered another Jeep_over the director's frantic protests_to try to reach me. My dad came to save me, and when I saw it was him sitting behind the wheel, I think it was the first time I'd ever thought of him in that way.
I wish I could tell you what went wrong after that, but I can't. But suddenly, the Jeep started to skid as we rounded a sharp curve, and the next thing I knew, we were off the road and tumbling down the mountain.
Other than breaking my arm and several ribs, I was okay, but I knew immediately that my dad wasn't I remember screaming at him to hold on, that I'd go get help, but he grabbed by hand and held me in place. I think even he knew it was almost over, and he wanted me to stay with him.
Then, this man who had just saved my life asked me to forgive him.
He loved you, Adrienne. Please don't ever forget that. Despite the short time you spent with him, he adored you, and I'm terribly sorry for your loss.
She had fallen in love with a stranger in the course of a weekend, and she would never fall in love again. The desire to love again had ended on a mountain pass in Ecuador. Paul had died for his son, and in that moment, part of her had died as well.
She wasn't bitter though. In the same situation, she knew she would have tried to save her own child as well. Yes, Paul was gone, but he had left her with so much. She'd found love and joy, she'd found a strength she never knew she had, and nothing could ever take those things away.