Summer of Love by Marie Ferrarella (easy to read books for adults list .TXT) 📕

to give up the baby. As a matter of fact, they’re grateful to us for giving them what they call ‘the most precious gift of all,’” Lila said. “Over the years, I’ve kept track of her through emails and pictures from her parents.”

It was a lot for Everett to take in. Numerous questions rose in his head.

“How is she doing? What grade is she in now?” Everett asked.

“You actually want to know?” Lila asked him, astonished. “I mean, after the baby was born, you seemed really eager to put the whole incident behind you and forget about it. About her.”

Her words stung, but he knew they were true. He’d been young and he’d just wanted to pretend that none of it had happened because it was easier to erase the guilt that way.

“I was,” he admitted. “I’m not proud of it now, but it was the only way I could deal with it at the time, to just bury it and put it all totally out of my mind.” Everett put his hands on her shoulders now, looking into Lila’s eyes. “I’m sorry I wasn’t more understanding, Lila. I didn’t realize that you were hurting. I only knew that I was.”

Lila struggled to wrap her mind around what he was telling her. She’d never suspected any of this. “You were hurting?”

Everett nodded. “She was my little girl, too,” he told Lila.

“Oh, Everett, I wish you had told me,” she cried.

So much time had been lost because of a failure to communicate. So much heartache could have been avoided if he had only verbalized his feelings to her.

If he’d just given her a clue...

“I wish I had told you, too,” Everett said with all sincerity. And then he looked at her hopefully. “You wouldn’t have a picture of Emma with you, would you?” he asked.

Lila opened up a drawer, took out her purse and pulled out her cell phone. She pressed the photo app and scrolled through a few photos until she came to the one she was looking for.

“This is Emma,” she told Everett, holding out her phone to him.

Everett looked at the young girl on the screen. He could feel his heart swell as he stared at the image. Emma looked to be on the verge of her teen years and she had a mouth full of braces.

She was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.

“She has your smile,” he said, taking in every detail of the photo. And then he looked up at Lila. “I can’t believe how beautiful our daughter is.” With a sigh, he handed the phone back to Lila.

Lila closed her phone and put it back in her purse. “Emma’s not our daughter anymore, Everett,” she told him quietly.

Everett nodded. “Right. Have you ever seen her in person?”

Lila shook her head. “No. I wanted to, but I don’t want to confuse Emma. One mother and father is enough for her right now at her age. Besides, her parents know how to get in contact with me. They have my cell number. Someday, when she’s older, if Emma wants to meet me, they’ll let me know and I’ll be there in a heartbeat. But for right now, all I want is for Emma to grow up happy and well adjusted.”

“You’re a strong, brave woman, Lila,” Everett told her with admiration. He hadn’t realized until this moment just how strong and brave she really was.

Lila shrugged. “You do what you have to do in order to survive. And you make the best of the situation,” she added. “The alternative is much too dark.”

He nodded. “You’re right. It is.” He paused for a moment before looking at her and saying, “Would it surprise you if I told you that I think about Emma, too? That over the last few years, I’ve found myself thinking about her a lot. Wondering where she was, what she’s doing. If she was happy. If she ever wondered about her birth parents and thought they—we—gave her up because we didn’t love her.”

“She knows we gave her up to give her a better life,” Lila told him.

“You’re just speculating,” he said.

“No, I know that Emma knows that because her adoptive parents told me they told her that when she was old enough to begin asking questions.”

Everett was quiet for a long moment. And when he finally spoke, what he said really surprised her. “I really wish I could meet our daughter.”

It took Lila a moment to fully absorb what he had just said.

“Do you really mean that?” she asked Everett, astonished to hear him voice the same feelings that had been haunting her for years.

“Yes,” he told her honestly. “I do.”

She pressed her lips together, thinking over the feasibility of what he had just told her. “Well, I’m not sure how Emma’s parents would feel about that, but I could certainly let them know that you’re back in the picture and that you would like to meet Emma whenever it’s convenient for them—and for her.”

He nodded. It was a difficult situation all around and he fully understood that.

“I’d really appreciate that,” he told her. He paused, trying to find the right words to convey what he wanted to say to her. “Lila...” Everett started, then stopped, his brain freezing up on him. This was a great deal harder than he’d anticipated.

“Yes?” she asked, wondering what else there was left for him to say. He’d already gladdened her heart by telling her that he not only thought about Emma, but actually wanted to meet her. That meant a great deal to her.

His eyes met hers. “Can you ever forgive me for not being there for you?” he asked softly.

Lila blinked. She could have been knocked over with the proverbial feather. Staring at Everett, she realized that he was being sincere.

“Oh Everett, I really wish I had known that you were hurting, too and that you felt the way you did. It would have helped me deal with everything that happened so much