"Beyond The Sunset"

by Kirsty White

Copyright ©2005
ISBN: 0-87714-922-4 eBook edition
ISBN: 0-87714-346-3 PB edition

All rights reserved by Denlinger's Publishers, including the right to reproduce this electronic book, or portions thereof, in any form, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.

This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.

DEDICATION

XXXX

THE AUTHOR

Kirsty White has worked with words for more years than she cares to remember. She has written historical romances and several children's books. This is her first contemporary novel. She loves traveling and meeting people. She lives in Scotland and the south of England with her partner, Jim, and two rescue dogs, Elvis the lurcher and Loki the Saluki.

Eleven years ago, she met someone who was living with late stage Huntington's Disease. That meeting left an indelible impression upon her. This novel is the result.

THE BOOK

Maria loved Gil more than life itself. But Gil changed on their wedding day.

Maria left him and brought up their daughter alone. They didn't speak for nearly twenty years.

When Gil explains what happened to him Maria's world is turned upside down.

She never stopped loving him, although she told herself the word love was a lie.

Gil has inherited a rare disease that is slowly destroying his nervous system. He has to live for the present. He does not know how much time he has left.

Sample

'You fool,' he said, 'you stubborn, obstinate...'

'You're the stubborn one, Gil.'

'Stubborn? Letting all that money pile up in a bank account isn't stubborn? What is it then, prudent financial management? Putting money aside for a rainy day? Geez, Maria, you take the biscuit for stubbornness. And obstinacy too.'

'I didn't know it was there,' she murmured, sniffily.

'What did you do with the statements? Bin them?'

She looked away.

'Well?' he demanded.

She ran her hands through her hair. 'I may have binned one or two. I moved house. They stopped after that.'

He shook his head. 'I've a damned good mind to sue you for it.'

She spun round. 'Sue me for what?'

'All the bank charges I paid over the years. I don't know. You're the lawyer, you tell me.'

Maria's voice rose to an incredulous falsetto. 'You expect me to tell you how to sue me?'

'Why not?'

'I thought you didn't want my money.'

'I don't.'

'Well, why sue me?'

* * *

'D'you ever want to condense time and bottle it?' he asked. 'Cork it in a bottle and keep it in a dry, dark place, to be taken later, sip by sip?'

'Every moment that I'm with you.'

'It's strange. When I met you at first, I couldn't wait for the future to come. At first I couldn't wait to kiss you, then I couldn't wait to make love to you, then I couldn't wait to marry you. And then, well, I wanted to freeze every moment, keep it forever…'

She hugged him tight, so tight that he wouldn't see a hint of her tears.

* * *
'It's like you said, Ria, we've got to take each moment as it comes, not think about the future too much. It never comes, you know.'

'What doesn't?'

'The future. Basic philosophy part 1. The future never comes. Mankind is doomed forever to live in the present.'

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