“Wasn’t it?”
He did not answer.
That silence told me more than any confession could have.
I stepped into the courtyard.
“Planned?”
David turned.
The color left his face.
“Eleanor.”
The woman closed her eyes.
For one terrible second, none of us moved.
Then I looked at David.
“Who is she?”
“My daughter. Clara.”
Clara gave me a small, unhappy smile.
“I’m sorry we met this way.”
I barely heard her.
My chest felt tight.
“What did you recognize me from?”
David took a step closer.
I moved back.
“Don’t.”
He stopped immediately.
The restaurant noise drifted through the open kitchen door behind us. Glasses clinking, People laughing, and a waiter calling for another bottle of wine.
Five minutes earlier, I had been sitting at a table overlooking the harbor, believing I had found something I thought life had taken from me forever. Now I was standing in a courtyard with a man who had admitted our meeting was not an accident.
At 67, I Took My First Vacation to Malta and Decided to Say ‘Yes’ to Everything – I Never Expected to Find Love Again
