Never Love a Stranger, page 47
I promised her I would.
But first I had to come home from the Army. And then when I thought that there was a chance I might not come home, I worried about keeping my promise to her, and so I ask of you to help me keep it. Take our son into your heart and home and give him your name and all the things I know you can give.
I am a fairly wealthy man. He will never lack for money. But what he will lack are things that money can’t secure. These are the things that you can give him.
Don’t let him grow up as I did. Sheltered and clothed and fed and cared for, and yet poorer in human qualities than the poorest of men. A man needs more than food and clothes and money to make him human. He needs love and kindness and affection.
He needs people, a family, to give him an anchor, to give him roots in the earth, in society, to teach him the true values in the world. The values that I learned from Ruth.
I took my son to the Orphanage of St. Thérèse and gave him into the care of Brother Bernhard. I have had letters from the good Brother that tell me little Francis is very much like me. And I am proud. Not only because he is like me, but because in him I see his mother. She looks out of his eyes, which are blue like hers. He smiles with her smile, and yet he is like me.
As you can see I have learned a great deal from Ruth. I have learned to love and that love meant giving, not taking. And I have learned that you can’t give if you haven’t anything to give. You have much to give. I know that, for I can remember.
Read this to Jerry and Marty when they’re together, if you can. Tell them both that their friendship always was one of the brightest parts of my life. That nothing that happened has ever dimmed or caused me to lose my feeling for them. Tell them both, that I want them, too, to take our son into their hearts and give him all the things I know they can give him.
Humbly I beg all of you to take my son into your home.
Help me keep my promise to Ruth.
With affection,
Frank.
From eyes that were proud, Janet looked at them. A moment passed while they all were silent and looked at each other. Suddenly they smiled and magic came back into the room. It was filled with hidden charm and warmth.
Tears came into Janet’s eyes as she looked at Jerry and Marty. Unconsciously she held her hands towards them. There was no need for questions.
They all knew the answer.
About the Author
A tough-skinned youngster, Frankie Kane rose from the sordid depths of the slums where vice and corruption are commonplace, to control a nationwide syndicate that thrived on every human weakness and ruled the lives of millions. Scarcely a single aspect of human frailty and degradation is absent from this stark tale. From the moment the tragic childhood of an unwanted orphan ended, a life of unceasing crime began—motivated always by the hungry lust for power that drives men to violent death.
Here is a brilliant exposé of a city strangled by the ever-reaching tentacles of vicious gangsters and corrupt politicians. But throughout this saga of violence runs the redeeming thread of a harsh yet tender passion of a woman whose love for Frankie never ceased.
HAROLD ROBBINS
has also written
THE DREAM MERCHANTS
A STONE FOR DANNY FISHER
NEVER LEAVE ME
79 PARK AVENUE
THE CARPETBAGGERS
Copyright
© Harold Robbins 1990
First published in Great Britain 1990
This edition 2013
ISBN 978 0 7198 1025 1 (epub)
ISBN 978 0 7198 1026 8 (mobi)
ISBN 978 0 7198 1027 5 (pdf)
ISBN 978 0 7091 0837 5 (print)
Robert Hale Limited
Clerkenwell House
Clerkenwell Green
London EC1R 0HT
www.halebooks.com
The right of Harold Robbins to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
Harold Robbins, Never Love a Stranger
