Read Online ECLIPSE by Richard North Patterson - Free Book Online

different from everyone around me was what got
me
started.”
    She gave him an ironic look. “You felt special.
I
felt different. It’s taken some time to separate myself from the identity laid out for me by other people and sort out who I was meant to be.”
    Pierce reached for the wine bottle, helping himself to another half glass. “Is that what Luandia’s about?”
    “I think so.” She gave him a keen look. “Just to clear something up for you, I was drawn to Luandia
before
I met Bobby. Over a year ago I went with a human rights group to Waro, the major city. The services were collapsing; the roads were congested; there were piles of garbage in the street; the power failed for hours on end. But there was a vitality I’d never seen before.” She began to speak swiftly, passionately. “I was scared and enthralled and thought the people were amazing—filled with energy, directness, and the will to survive. Suddenly I felt that anything was possible for me there, that I could have an impact way bigger than anything I could accomplish here. Now I can’t wait to go back.”
    Pierce did not analyze his impulse to object.
“Then
you were a foreigner who knew she was coming back here. From the sound of Bobby’s plans, the next time coming back won’t be so simple.”
    Marissa shrugged. “Then I’ll have to become Luandian, won’t I.”
    Pierce sipped his wine. “I wonder if fitting in will really be that easy.”
    Marissa bit her lip, lending her expression a stubborn cast. “In America I’m already twice a minority. Granted, less than half of me is black—Mama tells me there’s at least one slave owner in the family tree. But for everyone except blacks I’m black. So I’ve chosen to embrace that. I can’t be white, and don’t want to be.”
    “And I can only be me, Marissa—an Irish Catholic with as open a heart as I can manage. That has to be enough.”
    Perhaps it was the wine, Pierce realized, that had made him say more than he should, or the sense that his time with Marissa was running out. She looked down again, seeming to draw a breath, then met his eyes with an expression of deep gravity. “For who?”
    “Maybe for you.”
    She held his gaze, head slightly tilted, as though she were replaying his tone of voice. Then she said, “It can’t be, Damon. It just can’t.”
    The quiet insistence in her voice hinted at an inner struggle. Withequal quiet, he answered, “I’m not your father. Or Bobby Okari. What matters to me is that I see you as you are.”
    Her eyes and body froze. “That’s pretty condescending.”
    “Is it? I thought part of respecting someone was speaking honestly. That’s what we’ve been doing.” He softened his tone again. “Do you talk this way to Bobby?”
    “I don’t need to,” she snapped. “I already feel stupid for saying this stuff to you. How much dumber would it be for me to whine to Bobby about adolescent angst or my parents’ crummy marriage? For him I’m what he sees right now—and yes, that
is
enough.”
    “For who?” Pierce shot back. “Didn’t you say your mother was too concerned with others’ needs to speak out for herself? Or do you need Bobby to see you as someone too consumed by higher causes to bother him with herself?”
    “That’s completely unfair.” Marissa stood, trembling with anger. “Damn you, Damon, for drawing me out and then turning that back against me. I gave you credit for being sensitive, when all you are is manipulative.”
    Standing to face her, Pierce felt himself flush. “All I’ve done was listen to you and, because you matter, challenge you. I think you know the difference. That’s one of the reasons tonight happened the way it has. You can say anything to me you need to say, and that you
don’t
say in the stories Bobby never reads.” He lowered his voice again. “I care about you, Marissa. But then you’ve known that for a while.”
    Slowly the stiffness left her posture, and then she looked into his