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She had to give her mother credit there.Her parents were still together.And seemingly happy?
Now that she’d had over a year of separation and time on her own, Hadley couldn’t fathom the possibility.So much had happened between her and Kyle.She knew too many details about his time with the other woman, either from the kids or friends who’d wanted to fill her in as though every word wasn’t a razor blade to her skin.Social media?Yeah, she’d seen it.Pictures of them together, them…andherchildren.
“Hadley, people make mistakes.Huge mistakes they regret and wish they could undo.I don’t know what I would’ve done if your father hadn’t forgiven me.I can’t even explain why I did it, because I loved him.”
“That’s some way of showing it.”
Cheryl wrung her hands in front of her, diamond wedding rings flashing in the sunlight streaming into the room.
“I know.There is nothing you can say to me that I haven’t already said to myself, and I’m sure Kyle feels the same way.”
Hadley wasn’t so sure.When it came to egos, Kyle’s was pretty far up there.
“But if you have any love left for him at all, just…consider giving him another chance.Children have a hard enough time in life without being divided.”
“My kids aren’t toddlers, Mom.And it’s not forty-plus years ago.It’s not the same situation at all.”
“Oh, Hadley… Isn’t it?Can’t you see how very much your children need you to be together?As a mother, how can you not do what’s best for them?”
A little while later,Hadley sat on the far side of the pool watching Max and Abby play volleyball against Kyle.
“Mind if I join you?”her father asked.
Hadley tilted her head back to better see him and nodded.“Of course.”
Her father sat in the cushioned lounge chair, dressed in swim shorts and sunglasses.He looked every bit the fit, well-kept man in his sixties.
“So… I hear your mother told you.”
Hadley huffed out a breath, not needing a clarification.“She did.”
“Would you like to talk about it?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Fair enough.”
She pressed her head back against the chair and rolled it side to side.“Dad…why?How could you forgive her for what she did?”
“It was the hardest thing I ever had to do.But like the saying goes, to hold a grudge is like drinking poison and expecting it to kill the other person.”
Hadley adjusted the brim of her straw hat to better see her father.“Forgiving is one thing.Forgetting is another.”
“A bit of advice I was given at the time was to say the words every day.Repeat them until you can say it without anger.Until you almost believe them.And then then keep doing it until you do.”
“You stayed because of me, didn’t you?”she asked.
“I stayed because I truly loved her.You were a bonus.”
Hadley shook her head, angry for them both.“Dad, come on.”
“I’m serious, sweetheart.I could’ve left and probably could’ve managed to get custody of you under the circumstances.Courts were different back then in how they looked at such things.But I didn’t want that.I wanted my family.”
“She betrayed you.”
“Yes, she did.”
“And you’re okay with that?”
“Not by a long shot.But I made myself take a step back and look at the whole picture.She was young, depressed, and alone.And some of that was on me because I didn’t have to do all the traveling I was doing.I did it because it was easier than dealing with the stress of a new marriage, fatherhood, and the crying and complaints at home.”
Hadley shifted her gaze to Kyle, and he turned his head toward her and smiled as though he sensed her stare.“I don’t know that I could ever get past it.”
“That’s understandable.We’re all made differently.I suppose the question is whether or not you actually want to?”
That was the question.
So what was the answer?
