Finding Our Forever (Silver Springs #1)(65)

Those were harrowing words. “So what is it?” Cora asked. “You’re going to tell me, right? What happened?”

Eli seemed to have trouble getting started. Whatever Aiyana had done was obviously not something he wanted to expose.

“Eli?” she prompted.

Finally, he managed to explain what’d happened nearly thirty years ago. He did so as diplomatically and kindly as possible, but what he had to say still shocked Cora.

“Wow,” she said when he was finished.

“She was young, confused,” he added for the second or third time. “What she did is so unlike her. There must’ve been some extenuating circumstances that we’re not aware of.”

Cora’s mind raced as she tried to imagine how a situation like that could’ve developed and the damage it would cause. “My heart aches for her as much as it does Consuelo and her younger brothers. No wonder Aiyana doesn’t have much of a relationship with those two.”

“I’m guessing Consuelo has forgiven her. But I feel like those two brothers might be harboring some resentment, which is why I’ve hardly ever seen them.”

“So what did you mean, it’s time for the truth to come out? We can’t tell your mother who I am, Eli. If not for me, she’d be able to leave the past in the past, which is something she’s proven she’s desperate to do. I love her, too. I didn’t come here to bring her misery and unhappiness.”

“That’s just it,” he said. “Once you sit down and tell her who you are—”

“No! Aren’t you listening? I don’t want to serve as a constant reminder of—of all that.”

Eli scooted closer. “Hear me out. Why not tell her and leave it there? I mean, just because you both know doesn’t mean everyone else has to know.”

Her mind raced as she tried to comprehend what he was getting at. But she was still processing The Terrible Secret in which she played such an integral part. “You’re suggesting we tell her but not the extended family?”

“Or anyone else. Why would we have to? You’ll soon be her daughter-in-law as well as her daughter. If she loves you, spends a lot of time with you, calls you her little girl, no one will think twice about it, even Consuelo or my uncles. From what Cal told me, Consuelo never knew about the pregnancy. Aiyana went through those nine months, and the delivery, alone. She made the decision to put you up for adoption alone, too. Then she did her best to move on and build something out of her life—and she did that alone, too, until she could reconcile with her family, which didn’t happen until about five years after you were born.”

“She didn’t tell anyone?”

“Only Cal, and that well after she was back in touch with her family. He said she couldn’t talk about those years or the adoption without breaking down. She was too ashamed. And she didn’t want to hurt her mother and brothers any more than she already had by announcing the fact that she’d had a baby by her former stepfather.”

Cora nibbled at her lip as she pictured what having such a discussion with Aiyana might be like but eventually shook her head. “I can’t. I can’t tell her if she’ll only be sad that I found her. That’s not why I came here.”

“Cora, listen to me.” He took her hands. “Imagine how she must feel when she thinks of you. She gave you up because she was convinced she had to, which means, not only did she lose her family, at least for a while, she lost her only child. That has to be painful. She feels she deserves the pain, which is why she’s tried so hard not to look back and hasn’t taken up a search for you. But if you were to come to her, and it didn’t hurt her mother, her brothers or anyone else, I have to believe it might finally fill the hole in her heart. Don’t you see? Finding out that her baby had a good upbringing, one in which she was treated well, and has turned into such a beautiful, fully functioning young woman would have to erase some of that terrible guilt. It would also make her proud. Having you back... I believe she’d feel complete—at last.”

Cora’s eyes began to burn with unshed tears.

“You have to tell her,” he said. “Only you can bring her peace.”

*

Cora almost turned around a million times. If not for Eli’s words, his strong belief that she was doing the right thing, she would have. Instead, early the following Sunday, after a sleepless night she spent alone at her own house, she kept walking toward Aiyana’s. At least she knew that Liam and Bentley wouldn’t be there, that she and her biological mother would have the house to themselves. When Eli had called Aiyana to set up this appointment, he’d asked if the boys could spend the night with him. According to the good-luck text she’d just received from him, Liam and Bentley were still sound asleep. She knew Eli would run interference for her until he received the “all clear.”

Everything was ready—except her.

“How am I going to say it?” she muttered as she trudged along, hugging herself against the early morning chill.

Fortunately, the campus was deserted. She was grateful for that, wasn’t sure she’d be able to fake a smile if she happened upon a student or fellow teacher. She was close to tears, and she hadn’t even arrived yet.

When she did reach Aiyana’s, Aiyana answered the door immediately. Cora could tell she’d been waiting and watching for her. Aiyana knew something serious was up; the concern in her eyes proved it.