If you love someone, let him fly free…. a cognizant original v5 release october 26 2010 PRAISE FOR D S ANIELLE TEEL “A LITERARY PHENOMENON … and not to be pigeonholed as one who produces a predictable kind of book.” —The Detroit News “THE PLOTS OF DANIELLE STEELS NOVELS TWIST AND WEAVE as incredible stories unfold to the glee and delight of her enormous reading public.” —United Press International “Ms. Steel's fans won't be disappointed!” —The New York Times Book Review “One counts on Danielle Steel for A STORY THAT ENTERTAINS AND INFORMS.” —The Chattanooga Times “Steel writes convincingly about universal human emotions.” —Publishers Weekly “STEEL IS AT THE TOP OF HER BESTSELLING FORM. —Houston Chronicle “FEW MODERN WRITERS CONVEY THE PATHOS OF FAMILY AND MARITAL LIFE WITH SUCH HEARTFELT EMPATHY.” —The Philadelphia Inquirer “It's nothing short of amazing that even after [dozens of] novels, Danielle Steel can still come up with a good new yarn.” — (Newark) PRAISE FOR DANIELLE STEELS L E ONE AGLE “Engaging characters … STEEL'S EXPERT PLOTTING KEEPS THE NOVEL MOVING AT A GOOD PACE.” —Publishers Weekly “THE NOVEL IS BRIGHTLY PACED, and the World War II setting provides plenty of contextual drama.” —People “ENGAGING … Steel's fans will enjoy her latest novel. The story moves quickly, and the tension of not knowing how the couple ultimately will be together KEEPS THOSE PAGES TURNING.” —The Orlando Sentinel “Steel's fifty-first novel has all the elements her fans crave.” —Booklist “READABLE … DIVERTING.” —US Weekly “[Lone Eagle has] a kind of quiet intensity that will appeal to her gazillion fans.” —Kirkus Reviews A MAIN SELECTION OF THE LITERARY GUILD AND THE DOUBLEDAY BOOK CLUB Also by Danielle Steel To my beloved children, Beatrix, Trevor, Todd, Nick, Samantha, Victoria, Vanessa, Maxx and Zara, You are the most wonderful people on earth, and the best I know, and I love you with all my heart. Mom PROLOGUE December 1974 THE CALL CAME when she least expected it, on a snowy December afternoon, almost exactly thirty-four years after they met. Thirty-four years. Extraordinary years. She had spent exactly two-thirds of her lifetime with him. Kate was fifty-one years old, and Joe was sixty-three. And in spite of everything he had accomplished, Joe still seemed and looked young to her. There was a vibrancy to him, an energy, a driving force. He was like a shooting star, trapped in the body and soul of one man, always pushing forward, skyrocketing toward unseen goals. He had vision and brilliance and excitement like no one else. She had seen it from the moment they met. Had always known it. She hadn't always understood it, but from the first, without even knowing who he was, she had known he was different and important and special, and very, very rare. Kate had felt him in her bones. Over the years, he had become part of her soul. He was not always the most comfortable part of her, or even of himself, but he was a major part of her, and had been for a long time. There had been clashes over the years, and explosions, peaks and valleys, mountaintops, sunrises and sunsets, and peaceful times. He had been Everest to her. The Ultimate. The place she had always wanted to reach. From the very beginning, he had been her dream. He had been Heaven and Hell, and once in a while purgatory somewhere in between. He was a genius, and a man of extremes. They gave meaning to each other's lives, and color and depth, and had frightened each other profoundly at times. Peace and acceptance and love had come with age and time. The lessons they had learned had been hard won and hard earned. They had each been the other's greatest challenge, embodied each other's worst fears. And in the end, they had healed each other. In time, they fit together like two pieces of one puzzle, with no sharp edges and no seams. In the thirty-four years they had shared, they had found something that few people ever do. It had been tumultuous and exhilarating, and the noise had been deafening at times, but they both knew that it was infinitely rare. It had been a magical dance for thirty-four years, whose steps had not been easy for either of them to learn.