Much love, Darcy
The note had surprised Blythe. She hadn’t realized that Gabriel had seen Darcy, or that he’d told her what had happened. That fact gave her a sliver of hope; maybe there could be a future for the two of them. Gabriel had to get over Addison. The woman had come into their lives, turning everything upside down, and they were still reeling while she was back living her old life. Gabriel had told Blythe that he was still in touch with her. It infuriated Blythe that Addison was still holding on to him instead of making a clean break. But no matter what she said to her son, he refused to cut off communication with Addison.
When Blythe arrived at the gallery that day, Hailey was with a customer. Blythe gave her a little wave and went straight back to the office without stopping. Gabriel was sitting at one of the desks, his laptop open in front of him. Blythe had been going in every day now, ostensibly to prepare things for a new exhibit. The truth was that she needed to assure herself that Gabriel was all right, and for that she needed to see him, however briefly, every day. Her sunny, forward-looking son had become quiet and depressed. She understood that, but she was afraid that Gabriel would sink so low he might do something stupid. She couldn’t let that happen.
“Good morning,” she said, hanging up her coat.
“Hey, Mom,” Gabriel said, not looking away from his computer screen.
Blythe sat at her desk. “How are you?”
He shrugged.
“What are you reading that’s so fascinating?”
He finally looked up. “I’ve been doing some research on Julian Hunter. Not all his online reviews are great. I don’t trust him.”
“Really, Gabriel, there’s no person, or business, that has all positive reviews. You know that as well as I do.” She wasn’t ready to tell him about hiring Jim Fallow, even though she wanted her son to know that he’d found nothing questionable about Julian Hunter.
“Why did she try to kill herself? What if she was trying to get away from him?”
Blythe sighed. “Who knows when that happened? It could have been years before she even met him.”
Gabriel shut his laptop and shook his head. “I can hear the stress in her voice when I talk to her. What if she’s not telling me everything, just pretending to be okay? Maybe I should go to Boston and see for myself.”
“No,” she said with such vehemence that Gabriel looked up startled. “You can’t do that. She has a child. She needs time to figure things out, and it’s not fair to her for you to complicate matters. Besides, she’s still very much in touch with Gigi and Ed, and they would be on the first plane up there if they sensed anything was amiss.”
“But—”
“No buts,” she interrupted him. “You have to give her space. If you love her, you’ll let her do what she has to do. They’ve been married a long time. They have a child together. If she’s meant to be with you, things will work out, but as much as it hurts, you have to let her go for now.”
“It’s not that easy, Mom.”
Her voice softened. “I hate that you’re hurting, sweetheart, but try to be grateful for the love you felt. You will have that again in your life—if not with Addison, then with someone else. You must love her enough to let her decide what’s best for her.”
He took a deep breath. “Hailey said the same thing. Darcy too.”
Since he’d opened the door, Blythe walked through it. “Darcy wrote to let me know she was settling in. I hadn’t realized you’d seen her.”
“Yeah, I wanted to see her before she left. I’ve always felt bad about the way I ended things so quickly. She’s a good friend.”
Blythe was glad to hear it. “Maybe you should go visit her once she’s settled. It might do you some good to get away for a while.”
He shrugged. “Maybe.”
Blythe said nothing else. Maybe was a start.
??38??
Cassandra
I remembered something! It was during my third therapy session, during hypnosis. It was my honeymoon. Now I know where the picture of the two of us on the beach was taken. On our way to Hawaii, we’d stopped in Los Angeles for two days and spent all day on the beach in Santa Monica. I remembered us holding hands as we walked along the shore, then going back to our room at Shutters and making love with the sound of crashing waves in the background and the scent of salt air permeating the room, filled with a sense of well-being and safety as Julian held me in his arms.
It’s such a relief to finally have a piece of my past to call my own. I look at Julian differently now, and I’m so grateful that he waited and never gave up on me.