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I really love Italy, and Donnie is the best fiancé a girl could have But honestly, Mobut rocks and trees and et back from this trip, and you ever hear ain, I want you to slap some sense into both of us

Saturday Donnie and I drove to the Alps and stopped at that inn I told you about, the really pretty one at the base of theto stay there for the night and et some chocolate and that cuckoo clock Grandets thetaller than a hill, and then heand next thing I know this chick Gerta is lendingwith theuide back in Ro time of year to climb But you know Donnie Show hi on his boots Anyway, the Gerirl Gerta helped me keep up Still, it took five hours to cliot to the top I was ready to ralph upwas all slushy and dripping, and then this huge slab of snow and ice just collapsed and rolled down theboulder overhang thing, your little girl wouldn’t be writing this letter Seriously

I wanted to go down right then, but one of the Germans spotted another cli through all this crap that cauy out At first I thought he was dead for sure, and then he opened his eyes and sat up and--oh, God, this is, like, theon his bod was this wicked tat of a snake

Fritz, one of the Geret hypotheret a little weird in the head, think it’s hot instead of cold and then start stripping Seriously! Thank heavens Donnie had a change of clothes in his pack or the poor guy would have finished freezing to death

The aot hit by an avalanche and everything, he wasn’t hurt, not really I mean, he had a bad cut on his head, and he was kind of out of it, but no broken bones or anything like that Gerta thought he ht have some kind of, like, brain injury, because he couldn’t talk or tell us his na He didn’t seee we used I said soh school French class, and Donnie tried Italian and Spanish, but no luck Did you know Geres? They tried everything they knew, until Gerta said he was probably, like, really trauht in the avalanche and we should take hiet a doctor to take a look at hiht it would take forever to cli hurt and all, but he kept up with us and even showed Fritz this faster way down, so he must have been a really experienced cliot to the inn, and then he got a little freaked out He kept looking around like he didn’t knohere he was Donnie said it was a delayed reaction or so to pass out right there in the parking lot, and the Ger out into the middle of the street

The people at the inn didn’t knoho he was, but since he was hurt and kind of starved-looking they were really nice and gave hie free e who checked him out Later he came by to talk to me and Donnie, and said the man had soo through wars and stuff The name of it had letters, like PMS, but I can’t remember exactly what they are now

I al ent to check on hiear from the Germans and went back up the h he’d be scared to cliht back on the horse He didn’t co to leave, and he looked better, but I think he was really upset He still couldn’t talk to us, but he used his hands to, like, say thank-you, and gave Donnie and Fritz each an old, nasty-looking coin

I wanted Donnie to throw that thing away, it was so covered with crud, but he said he thought it was really old and we should have it appraised So while ere in Berlin Donnie took it to this coin dealer, and the dealer washed off the crud and got all quiet and then he told Donnie that it was pure gold and in mint condition and stuff Get this, Moe pile of et a lot more money for it froet in trouble for taking it out of Italy, but I’ to look there, right? So e get ho to sell it and use theDonnie said if we sell it to the right person there h left over for us to put a down payment on a town house Tell Daddy, since I know that will ot--I don’t knohat happened to the one e stopped at the inn on our way back to Rome The innkeeper said he just walked down the road the day we left and disappeared Donnie thought about calling the newspapers, you know? But I told hiuy found the coin and if there wereto tell anyone I know--you and Daddy would say we should go to the police, but we really did save thatat this like a little reward for being Good Sa on to Venice like we planned, and I’ll call you froate and stuff and e’ll be arriving at LAX Give Daddy and Ji for me, and see you next week!

Love,

Becky

Chapter 16

The ht had not all taken place on blood-soaked battlefields So, happened in the endless expanse of the soul, where the coolden place within, where the truth of her shone bright and hot as the suers dug into his arid that she felt like a bundle of dry twigs ready to snap But her soft, lush mouth welcomed his, and she tasted as sweet and hot as her hidden self, the woer desire now

The dae in her scent told him that she would soon lose this battle, and if she did so in his arh will to fight back his own need and ease away fro their hands linked "It has been between us since the first moment"

"When you kidnapped me," she snapped