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Robyn: Call me.
Darcy poised her fingers over the phone. She wanted to talk to someone face-to-face. This was too shattering to discuss over the phone. But would Robyn agree to meet her in person this late at night? Would Robyn truly be a mother figure to her now in her time of need?
Darcy: Can you talk in person?
Silence stretched once again, and Darcy sagged against the driver’s seat. Robyn was going to let her down, and she couldn’t blame her. Darcy was calling out of the blue, and surely Robyn was already dressed for bed...
Robyn: Yes.
Darcy sat up. Oh, thank goodness!
Darcy texted: Can we meet somewhere?
Another pause, and Darcy cringed. Maybe it was too good to be true.
Robyn: Want to come to my house?
Shock rocked through Darcy. Was she finally going to have a chance to meet her brothers? She wrote back quickly: Yes.
Robyn: Great. Here’s my address.
Darcy: I’ll be there soon.
She started her car and headed for Concord.
***
Thirty minutes later Darcy parked in the driveway of Robyn’s two-story burgundy colonial in Concord. She glanced down the street and took in the warm yellow glow of the streetlamps. The clear night sky was peppered with sparkling stars—a stark contrast to her desolate mood.
She made for the front door, and her hands quaked as she knocked. Were her brothers home? Would she have a chance to meet them? Would they even want to meet her? If not, her spirit would be completely broken.
She ousted those thoughts from her mind when footsteps sounded from inside the house.
The door opened, and Robyn stood before her clad in gray yoga pants and an oversized purple t-shirt. “Darcy. What’s going on?”
Darcy opened her mouth and tried to speak, but instead, a squeak escaped her throat. Then tears began leaking from her eyes and down her hot cheeks.
“Oh, sweetie. Come in.” Robyn took Darcy’s arm and led her through the foyer and into a large family room. “Sit,” she ordered, directing Darcy to a gray sectional sofa. “Tell me everything.”
Darcy took a deep breath and shared what had happened—beginning with her argument with Carter after the rehearsal dinner and ending with their breakup at the reception.
“So that’s it,” she said when she’d finished the story. “It’s over between Carter and me, and I don’t know how I’ll ever recover. I feel as if my heart has been stomped on.”
Robyn took Darcy’s hands in hers. “Honey, I never met Jace, but I can guarantee you he wouldn’t ever have blamed you for what happened to him.”
“But if I had picked up my meds myself, Jace wouldn’t be gone.” She moved her hand over the arm of the sofa. “Now that I know he was Carter’s donor, I’ll see Jace every time I look at him. I’ll relive that grief every day. And I can’t... I just can’t do that.”
“Darcy, look at me.”
She met Robyn’s determined expression.
“It could have been you who was hit by that driver. It was an accident, Darcy. Don’t let an accident define your entire life. You love Jace, and you always will, but he would want you to move on. He would want you to fall in love, get married, and live your dream of having a family. He wouldn’t want you to be stuck in your guilt forever.”
Darcy sniffed and stared at her lap.
“Listen to me,” Robyn continued. “If the situation were reversed, would you want Jace to mourn you forever?”
Her brow wrinkled. “No. I would want him to find happiness.”
