page_86 < previous page page_86 next page > Page 86 "When did you last see her?" "Nine years ago." Sarah felt her throat tighten and swallowed hard. "She had come to see my father at his office. I seldom went thereFather never liked for me to go therebut Clarissa had insisted. We had been shopping and she wanted to show him the fan she had bought. Diana was leaving when we arrived. She came out of the building, and that man she married took her into his arms, right there in the middle of Broadway. She didn't even notice me." Tears threatened, sharp burning tears that made her clench her hands into fists and stare unblinking at a stone statue of a man standing behind glass a few feet away from her. If she didn't blink, if she didn't move, the tears wouldn't win; she knew this from countless times she had held them at bay. "There are times when people do what they must to survive. Have you ever thought your mother might have left because she couldn't stay with your father?" "That woman turned her back on her husband and her two children for the sake of her lover." "Have you ever discussed it with her?" I don't believe the matter is of any concern to you. "It concerns me because it concerns you." Sarah drew a breath that quivered in her throat. There was such sincerity in his eyes, such genuine concern, she could almost believe he cared for her. "The past shapes our future, Sarah." He cupped her cheek in the palm of his big hand, his long fingers curving beneath her ear. "Until you can understand what happened in your past, until you can resolve the questions and doubts, your future will remain unsettled." Her future. She had never liked what she saw when she imagined her future. There were too many things  < previous page page_86 next page >