Confessions from the Quilting Circle - Maisey Yates Page 0,104
that the smile from a stranger had been the only hope she’d been able to see.
But that left only one thing.
“The thing I’m the sorriest for is that you couldn’t talk to me. And that is because of the lie that I constructed. I might not be responsible for all your choices, but you didn’t feel that you could come to me when your marriage was falling apart, and you should have. I should have made it clear that I was here for you. That I supported you no matter what. And that I would love you no matter what happened in the end. But I didn’t. I’m sorry. I want you to know, from now on, no matter what you do, no matter who you’re with, who you aren’t with, I’m proud of you, Anna. Everything you are. You were the light of my life from the time you were born. If I didn’t have you, if I didn’t have Rachel, I wouldn’t have had the strength to carve this new life out for myself. To make this place. You’re part of it—you’re a part of me. The best part. You were brilliantly and wonderfully loved, no matter what. And I’m saying this too late, but I am always on your side. Even when you’re wrong. Especially when you’re wrong. Because you have to be wrong in life to get where you can be right. And I will walk with you, through all of that. Because all I want is for you to be happy.”
A tear slipped down Anna’s cheek, and she leaned across the space, and pulled Wendy in for a hug. Wendy clung to her daughter, a sob lodged in her throat.
“I know, Mom,” she whispered. “I know that you love me.”
In those words were the absolution that Wendy needed.
And she thought that maybe for the first time in more than thirty years, she might be okay with who she was.
In the end, she hadn’t been the one to teach her daughter how to live.
Anna had been the one to teach her.
28
Sometimes we’re a storm. At night, we are the very waves crashing on the rocks. I wonder what has overtaken me. By day, I don’t know how to speak to him. And a smile from him is like the sun is here. Rare. Why do I treasure it so?
—FROM THE DIARY OF JENNY HANSEN, AUGUST 1, 1900
RACHEL
Rachel had intended to go to J’s to order a hamburger. Truly. That had been her intent. She hadn’t meant to stay chatting until the last customer had conveniently left. And she hadn’t counted on Adam locking the door and closing up early. She hadn’t meant to start kissing him, and she really, really hadn’t meant to end up right back in his bed.
But there she was. Naked, and beautifully, brilliantly satisfied, fitted against his hard, muscled body.
And tonight...she just didn’t have the energy to run away.
It was done. They’d slept together, and whatever the messy implications this new phase of their relationship added to their previous one, she couldn’t turn away from it now.
What she had figured was that eventually, she and Adam would talk about what had happened between them. After all, talking had always been about the easiest thing in the world to do with Adam.
It turned out there was something that was even easier to do with him.
He rolled over on his side and rested his hand on her bare hip. She wanted to purr over how good it felt. The weight of that masculine hand.
“That was amazing,” she said. She turned over so that she was facing him. “Really. I don’t think that I stayed long enough last time to tell you just how...wow.”
“Thank you,” he said, his mouth quirking up into a half smile. “I’m flattered.”
She turned over on her back. “I know that we didn’t ever talk about...things. You know, before.”
She didn’t know if she wanted to talk about them now. But there were just a couple of things that she felt like he should know, given everything they’d done.
“No,” he said. “I didn’t get the impression you wanted to.”
“I didn’t. Because coming and seeing you was... It was an escape. And it was one I needed. I needed it so much. I loved him. I feel like people would never understand how I could be with someone so quickly if they fully knew how much I loved him. But I haven’t had this in a long time. A really long time. I