Free A Sweethaven Summer by Courtney Walsh

on the coffee table. “I really let them down.”
    Poor girl. She’d been carrying this pain for years.
    Adele took Suzanne’s hands in her own. “You listen to me. I will not judge you. My good Lord Jesus tells me not to judge. I am only here to be your friend.”
    “Thank you.” Suzanne pulled away. “I know the girls were mad at me. They didn’t really know my parents. I think they were mad I wouldn’t tell them everything, but I was just so ashamed.” Even now, all these years later, she wrung her hands, eyes focused on the floor.
    Shame. Powerful demon, that one.
    “They were upset, I suppose, but they loved you, Suzanne. They would’ve been there for you. I would’ve been there for you.”
    “Adele, the people who were supposed to protect me the most couldn’t even be there for me. They kicked me out. Told me if I didn’t marry the father, I shouldn’t come back. My child wasn’t welcome in their home.”
    Adele cringed. She’d suspected Suzanne’s parents—especially her mother—had been unsympathetic, but she had no idea how badly it had hurt Suzanne.
    Suzanne fidgeted with the edge of a pillow at her side. “I went to Jane. I would’ve told her everything that night, but I couldn’t. Bad timing. I didn’t want to push my problems on her. A few months later, I got a stack of scrapbook pages in the mail. I figured it was her way of saying they’d all decided they were finished with this foolishness.”
    “That could be, sweetheart, but isn’t it just as likely they wanted you to know they couldn’t continue without you? The Circle was broken.
I
am the one who insisted they divide that scrapbook, darlin’. I felt like that book needed to be with each of you, and the only way to do that was to give everyone a portion of the pages. They picked your pages so carefully, making sure to get the ones they thought you’d love most.”
    Suzanne shook her head, almost as though it hurt to imagine she’d gotten it wrong for so many years.
    “I need a favor.”
    “Anything, hon.”
    “I need you to send these cards to the girls after I’m…”
    “Suzanne.” Adele touched Suzanne’s knee. “No.”
    “Yes, please. You’re the only one I trust to do this.”
    “Darlin’ listen. I know a little something about regret, and I can tell you if you don’t find these girls yourself and say good-bye, you will regret it. And so will they.”
    “Too much time has passed, Adele. I wouldn’t know where to start.”
    “You could start with ‘hello.’ You don’t know what they’ve all been through, hon.”
    “Exactly, and I wasn’t there for any of them. I left. In their minds, I died a long time ago.”
    Adele sat back in her chair. “That’s just not true, Suzanne.”
    “Can you honestly tell me if I called Meg right now we could just pick up where we left off?” Suzanne stared at her, but Adele said nothing. “Can you?”
    “I can’t tell you much of anything about Meghan these days, I’m afraid. We haven’t spoken in a long time.”
    Suzanne’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”
    “She left Sweethaven a few years ago, and I haven’t seen her since.”
    Suzanne crinkled her forehead. “I don’t understand.”
    “It’s a long story, but it would be better if you tried to reach them yourself.”
    “Please, Adele. I don’t have a lot of time left. I need to spend it all with my daughter. I am praying the girls will understand.”
    “I have a better idea. Why don’t you all come up here for a weekend? You can get everyone back together. You can introduce them to your daughter. You can tell them how much you love them face to face.”
    Suzanne sighed. “I don’t know.”
    “Come on, darlin’. A reunion is long overdue. I vote for the first weekend in May.”
    “Blossom Festival.” Suzanne smiled. “It does seem perfect, doesn’t it?”
    “So you take those cards home and rewrite them. Invite everyone back for the Blossom Fest.”
    As she spoke, her stomach