Page 19 of Lost Memories (Secrets of Mackinac Island 1)

“No idea,” Elise said. After a pause, she added, “I don’t know how much she told you about her early life.”

Peter gave a light shrug. “I guess she told me enough about it, although she was never one to dwell in the past.”

Elise cast her eyes toward the ground. “I hate to ask you this, but... You don’t know who my father is, do you?”

Peter shook his head sadly. “No. I never thought it was right to ask. She was very reserved about that time of her life. There was a before period for her—which, I think, was before her parents died; then, there was an after period—which, of course, was after your birth. The space between? It’s always been a mystery for me.”

“That’s what I feel, too,” Elise offered.

“That said, she had mentioned to me before that she had the potential to work with this agent in her early career. She said that there was such potential there that she would drive past enormous mansions on Mulholland Drive and imagine her life there.” Peter shrugged. “I asked her what kinds of films she nearly acted in, or what directors she spoke with—but she was again reserved about that, as though the act of naming anything specifically hurt her too desperately. I can’t explain it.”

Elise nodded and thanked him. “I guess there might just be a lot about Allison Darby that I never got to know.”

“Don’t be silly,” Peter returned, adjusting the box against his chest. “Your mother gave you almost all of herself. Just because she didn’t open the window all the way on that part of her life doesn’t mean you don’t know her. People have secrets. I certainly have a few of my own.”

Peter winked and bid her farewell again. “I hope I see you soon,” he told her. “You look so much like her around the time I met her. It reminds me of my life back then. How I was in a bad and tumultuous marriage. How...”

“Wait,” Elise said, grinning mischievously. “Did my mother break up your marriage?”

Peter stuttered, as though he realized he had stepped over a boundary he’d forgotten was there. After a pause, he said, “You must understand that I um. I loved my ex-wife; I did. It’s just that our time together had come to a close.”

“A very abrupt close after you met my mother,” Elise said with a slight laugh.

“She didn’t force it on me. It was simply this. The moment I met Allison Darby, I knew that I had to figure out a way to be with her. And she gave me as much as she could, you know? We were together for years. Separated for years. We traveled all over the world. We fought until we cried, then always made up. We were on our way back to one another. I have to believe that. And I’ll keep it with me for the rest of my life.”

Elise watched Peter walk toward his car from the living room window. She remembered a similar view, there on the couch, watching as her various high school boyfriends cut up the sidewalk to meet her for dances and dates. Usually, her mother had been somewhere behind her, calling out, “You know, you can always cancel and hang out here with me.”

How Elise wished she could go back to one of those nights, abandon her date, and remain at the house with her mother.

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