The Secrets She Keeps
Page 24
When there was no one within the sound of my voice, I took a deep breath and spoke. “I’m sorry.”
She sighed, leaning further into me. I scooted back an inch or two so the curves of her body didn’t distract me from the speech I’d rehearsed all the way up the trail. “What for, Lucas?”
“For being a narrow minded asshole,” I said.
“About what?”
“About you and Andrew and Minnie. I know making the decision to give up your daughter couldn’t have been easy. I’m sorry that I made it out to be that way.”
“I think I’ll make contact with her.”
I tried not to stiffen my body in shock. “Really?” I said, making my voice as normal as I could.
“Not today or tomorrow. But when she’s eighteen I’ll reach out in whatever way I can. I don’t want her to think she was unwanted. Or was conceived out of anything other than love. It’s more important than I thought it would be to a child. I had no way of knowing that until I met you.”
To say I was shocked was an understatement. Nari finally got it. She finally seemed to understand my drive to find answers.
“Thank you.”
“I’m doing it for her and for me. I hope I can answer questions and make that closure.”
“I love you, Nari,” I said.
She didn’t reciprocate, and that was okay at this moment. “I want to apologize for what I said in Brentwood that day. It was unfair.” Nari’s breath hitched then held. I chose my next words carefully. “I want to be with you. I understand the decision you made eleven years ago and I won’t bring it up again unless you want to talk about it.”
“Okay.” Breath puffed from her lips, blowing against the hairs on my arm.
“I only have one other thing I want to ask,” I said. I’d thought long and hard about this. But on this one thing, I couldn’t bend.
“What, Lucas?”
“I need to know if you can…” God, I felt like a supreme and colossal ass for bringing this up. But I didn’t want to be second fiddle to a dead guy. It wasn’t a fair fight. “If…” Damned if I couldn’t even figure out the right words.
“Is this about Andrew?” Nari asked as if reading my mind.
“Yes…I—”
“I will never stop loving Andrew. He was my husband. The father of our daughter. But what I said to you in my apartment that day isn’t entirely true. I’m not in love with him anymore. I’m in love with you.”
I didn’t need to see her face at that moment to know that she was lit from within like that last time. But this go round, that love, that light was for me.
I held her tight. I’d never let her go.
The End
Thank you for reading The Secret Widow. When a dear friend of mine was pregnant with her first daughter, her mother chose the name Nari. My friend picked a name for her baby she liked better. Nari stuck with me though, and one day when I was driving on the 405 freeway, her story came to me. Or at least the part about having given her baby up for adoption.
She made one of life’s hardest choices. When I was researching this book, I interviewed a lot of women who were adopted, had adopted children, or who’d given babies up for adoption. The choices aren’t easy and the consequences are far reaching. I commend every choice any woman makes when facing an impossible situation.
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In my other standalone romance, The Good Enough Husband, Hannah faces one of the hardest choices a woman has to make: keep her wedding vows and stay with a man she doesn’t love or follow love no matter what havoc it wreaks. For more about The Good Enough Husband read on.
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The Good Enough Husband
One day I was watching one of my aunties battle cancer treatment. She was older, never married, alone. That day I decided I never wanted to be that woman.
So I looked around and zeroed in on Michael. He worked on Wall Street, he was available, but most of all, he was into me. I let him catch me, then I made the biggest mistake of my life: I married a guy I didn’t love.
Maybe if I’d loved him, we’d have connected in bed, and I wouldn’t have woken in the mornings feeling exploited. Maybe if I’d loved him, our infertility would have been manageable.
But I didn’t love him, not like I should have, so I left. I needed to have some time alone to think.
I never thought I’d meet anyone. I never thought a guy like Ben would come into my life. But he did and I want with him all the things I should have wanted with Michael.
Ben is my future.
Unfortunately, Michael won’t stay in my past…
Get The Good Enough Husband
Sylvie Fox is the USA TODAY bestselling author of quirky, angsty, realistic romance. She’s a mother of a soon-to-be hero and worldwide jet-setter.
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You can find her online at:
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Books by Sylvie Fox
The Good Enough Husband
The Secret Widow
Unlikely
Impasse
Shaken
Stirred
Shattered
About the Author
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I write crazy, beautiful love stories because I believe storytelling is magic. I love complicated heroines with secrets, strong heroes who fall hard, and a long winding road to happily ever after. When I’m not writing, I love to travel to witness the diverse tapestry of humanity, photograph the beauty of the world, visit museums, and watch live theater. I live in West Hollywood, California ten miles from the nearest airport.
I’m the host of Fifty First Dates the Podcast. I haven’t found my own happily ever after, but I’m not done looking. Join me as I try to find my Mr. Right or maybe Mr. Right Now in Southern California. #50firstdates #joliemoore #crazybeautifullove
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Copyright © 2015, 2021 by Jolie Moore
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, corporations, institutions, organizations, events, or locales in this novel are either the product of the author’s imagination or, if real, used fictitiously. The resemblance of any character to actual persons (living or dead) is entirely coincidental.
The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners
Cover Designer: Damonza.com
The Secret She Keeps/Jolie Moore. — 2d ed.
Contents
Also by Jolie Moore
1. Nari
2. Lucas
3. Nari
4. Lucas
5. Nari
6. Lucas
7. Nari
8. Lucas
9. Nari
10. Lucas
11. Nari
12. Lucas
13. Nari
14. Lucas
15. Nari
16. Lucas
17. Nari
18. Lucas
19. Nari
20. Lucas
21. Nari
22. Lucas
23. Nari
24. Lucas
25. Nari
26. Lucas
27. Nari
28. Lucas
29. Nari
30. Lucas
31. Nari
32. Lucas
33. Nari
34. Lucas
About the Author
Jolie Moore, The Secrets She Keeps