the smiling girl confirmed Elaine had made the right decision. But it also drove home the ache that never healed, even when Lofton was born. She had two children, and not having her firstborn with her was a forever kind of wound that would never fully heal.
“Libby is here now,” she whispered. “That’s what matters.”
She wanted this to work, to build a bridge to her daughter. But she had been warned by the experts to go slow. It could not be rushed.
And then there was the matter of Lofton. Her youngest daughter had been unusually antagonistic last night, as if she understood exactly who she had met, even though Elaine had been careful to guard her secret.
Her phone rang, and when she saw the name, she smiled. “Ted, are you safely back in Washington?”
“Made it ahead of the traffic and sitting at my office desk. Sorry again I had to leave.”
“It was nice having you here.”
“How are you feeling? Yesterday was a big day.”
Her husband had known about Libby since their third date. She had known then she was in love with him but needed him to accept her child. He had never faltered, smiling when she had shown him the three birthday pictures the McKenzies had sent her.
“I’m doing fine,” she said. “It was so lovely to have Libby here again.”
“She has your nose.” It had been his first response when she had shown him her precious collection of Libby pictures. The sincerity behind his words had deepened her love for him, and she had known then she would marry him.
“What was going on with Lofton last night?” he asked. “It’s not like her to be rude.”
“It’s as if she knew the truth.”
“How?”
“She’s not only smart but also perceptive, Ted,” Elaine said. “Did she ask you about Libby?”
“No, but she does suspect something. It would be like Lofton to pretend she knows more than she does, hoping you’ll spill the beans. I stopped falling for that trick when she was in the seventh grade.”
Elaine smiled, remembering how the freckles had stretched over the bridge of Lofton’s nose at that age.
“Are you worried about telling Lofton the truth?” Ted asked.
“She has to be told at some point. And this kind of truth rarely stays hidden forever.”
In the background a car beeped. “Why do you sound worried?” he asked.
She rubbed the side of her neck. “Libby just called me this morning.”
“And that’s a bad thing?”
“After last night, judging by the tone of her voice in the message, I think she must know.”
“How?”
“I gave Olivia’s letter to her father last November. She may have found it.”
Silence crackled over the line, and she knew Ted was holding back his thoughts on Dr. McKenzie. He had never been happy about keeping the secret but always respected Elaine’s wish. “She seems like a fine woman, Elaine.”
Elaine knotted her brow. “She is. I can’t claim her, but I’m proud.”
“Why can’t you claim her?”
“I didn’t raise her.”
“But she has your DNA in her. That’s a big part of who she is.”
“The McKenzies did a great job with her.”
“And yet they couldn’t have done anything without you.”
She raised her chin. “I know. I just have so much regret.”
“You need to call her back.”
“What if I tell Libby the truth, and she ends up hating me?”
“Either way, you’ll have done right by her, Elaine.”
“She’s had such a terrible few years with the miscarriages and the divorce. What if I’m simply a bridge too far?”
“Libby has a right to know.”
“Ted, I gave her away. How can she forgive that?”
“You didn’t give her away.”
As many times as he said it, Elaine still did not believe it. “I feel like I’ve betrayed her.”
“Do you think twenty-two-year-old Elaine could have raised her?”
She pressed her hand to her forehead. She had asked the same question so many times she had worn down the finish of the words. “Grandmother Olivia didn’t think so.”
“You know how I feel about your grandparents’ lack of support,” Ted said.
“They were very old world. Girls who got pregnant in their day were shunned. She was fearful for me. And especially considering what my grandfather did to girls like me back in the day.”
When Elaine had told her grandmother about the pregnancy, Olivia had told her all about the hospital in Lynchburg where her grandfather had worked. Then she sent Elaine to a small New Jersey town to live with an old friend of hers whom Elaine did not know. The woman was kind and helped Elaine through the last months