One of the harder things to write about in my romance novel The Family She Never Met is how the past shapes so much of your life. Memories are powerful things and they can affect you in so many ways, especially the painful memories. That’s especially true for Jessica’s mother and grandmother in this story. But even though there are too many bad memories, there are also happy moments like when Lara, Jessica’s mother, recalls the cute little Easter hats with their multi-colored eggs. This teaser is from a discussion that Jessica and Luis, the man Jessica is coming to love, share about the past and how it influences your life.
Excerpt
She looked away, back toward the house, and he heard a sniffle. “Too much pain,” she said, her voice pinched tight with emotion. Her gaze shimmered with tears as she looked back at him. “For my mother too, Luis. How I wish…” She sucked in a breath and blurted out, “I wish I could make it stop. Make it better. For both of them.”
There was no doubting Jessica’s sincerity. No doubting the guilt and pain that had now settled on her shoulders, torn as she was between the grandmother she’d only recently come to know and the mother she loved and had been with her all her life.
“You’ve started the healing, mi amor. Coming here, as tough as it was… It was the right thing to do for both of them,” he said.
She offered up a smile, but it didn’t quite reach up into her eyes, still wet with unshed tears. “Thank you, but it doesn’t feel so right at the moment. But maybe in time.”
“Maybe,” he said and hated repeating the word that had almost become a mantra lately. He wasn’t a man used to maybes. He was a man used to making things happen, much like he had in convincing Jessica to come to Miami, making him as responsible for the current situation as Jessica.
“Give Carmen a little bit of time, but don’t be afraid to ask the hard questions. To understand what really happened back then.”
“Because knowing the past is what you need to understand the present and build the future,” Jessica said, and he couldn’t disagree.
“It is. The past shaped us. Made us who we are, for good or bad,” Luis said, hating that his past and present seemed to be shaping a bleak future for himself. One filled with mostly work and not much else.
Jessica seemed to sense his upset. She laid her hand over his and urged him to twine his fingers with hers. “I don’t see any bad there, Luis.”
He chuckled, a harsh sound that seemed to surprise her. “I’m not a lying lawyer anymore?”
She tightened her lips. “I’m sorry I said that. I was angry because there was so much going on with my parents. With my grandmother.”
She recoiled a little, seemingly surprised with the last bit of her statement.
“She is your grandmother,” Luis challenged and squeezed her hand. “I’m glad you’re willing to admit that.”
Jessica firmed her lips even more but nodded. “She is, and she’s a fascinating woman. A strong woman who had to overcome so much. I know that now and yet…”
There was no doubting her sincerity or her upset. He finished for her. “And yet your mother left her and never looked back.”
