Free Dancing in the Dark by Sandra Marton

said, Mother. Do you mean to tell me you feel sorry for Seth?” She grabbed the banister and pulled herself to her feet. “You heard the things he said to me! How can you feel any sympathy for him?”
    “You could have been more polite!”
    “Polite?” Wendy barked out a laugh. “He came here uninvited, put me through an inquisition, acted as if I owed him something, and you call him a poor boy?”
    “You do owe him something. An apology. I’ve never said that to you, not in all these years, but you treated Seth—”
    “I don’t want to hear it.”
    “Well, you’re going to. That boy—”
    “He’s not a boy, he’s a man. And if he thinks I’m going to grovel just because I had the courage to do what I knew I had to do—”
    “That man, ” Gina said sternly, “dropped everything he was doing to fly to your side. And you—” She broke off in the middle of the sentence, breathing hard, eyes suddenly welling with tears. “Oh, honey. I’m sorry.”
    “That’s all right,” Wendy said stiffly. “Say what you have to say.”
    “No. Baby, I didn’t mean...” Gina stepped forward and took hold of her daughter’s shoulders. “You were right to concentrate all your energies on yourself. You had to. It’s the only way you got through the accident. It’s just that I saw how hurt Seth was. All through the years, I kept hoping you’d get in touch with him.”
    “For what? I don’t love him.”
    “I’m not talking about love, baby, I’m talking about doing the right thing. You could have called him just to say, I don’t know, that you appreciated what he’d done, that you hoped he was happy....”
    “Is he?” The words were out before Wendy could stop them. “Alison says he’s seeing someone. Is he happy with her, Mom?”
    “Oh, my,” Gina said softly. “You still care for him.”
    “No!” Wendy wrenched free of her mother’s hands. “You just finished saying I should have asked him if he was happy. Can’t I ask it without you making it into something personal?”
    “And it isn’t?”
    “Of course not!” Wendy ran the tip of her tongue over her bottom lip. “Okay. You’re right. I mean, I should have gotten in touch with him at some point. I just... It’s hard, looking back, Mom. Can you understand that?”
    “Yes, I guess I can. He reminds you of the past. And you only want to think about the future.” Gina sighed. “And you’re right. It’s none of my business.”
    “I didn’t say that.”
    “You didn’t have to.” Gina smiled. “I kind of got the message.”
    Wendy’s shoulders slumped. She sighed and put her arms around her mother. “Forgive me,” she said softly. “I shouldn’t be letting all this out on you.”
    Gina returned the embrace. “And I shouldn’t have jumped on you. No matter how much Seth might have wanted to see you, you were right. He should have called before coming here.” She drew back and clasped Wendy’s face. “I know it must have been a shock to see him again, after such a long time.”
    Wendy nodded. “It was.” She hesitated. “Mom, I know you think I treated Seth badly, but—”
    “What I think,” Gina said gently, “is that I have to keep out of this.” Wendy sighed and sank down on the step again. Her mother sat down next to her. “Can I ask one question?”
    “Of course.”
    Gina brushed a curl back from Wendy’s forehead. “Did you break things off because you thought you might be in a wheelchair for the rest of your life?”
    “That was part of it.”
    “Honey, you have to know that wouldn’t have mattered to a man like Seth.”
    “There was more to it than that.”
    “I hope so,” Gina said gently, “because that kind of decision wasn’t yours to make.”
    “You’re wrong, Mom. It was my decision. It couldn’t have been Seth’s. I knew he’d...he’d opt for the honorable thing. That he’d say my being unable to walk wouldn’t matter, but it did.”
    “Wendy—”
    “Don’t tell me it’s not