The Valentine Wedding Dress Read Free Page B

something slid out. Even as she reached for it, she realized it was a snapshot, an old one.
    Heart pounding, she retrieved it from the floor. Could this be the man her mother had loved and lost?
    Lara had to take a deep breath before she felt brave enough to turn it over. When she finally did, her breath came out in a gasp.
    â€œOh, my God,” she whispered.

CHAPTER FIVE
    Dave stood in the hallway for what felt like an eternity. How could he face his father and ask if Lara Calhoun was the daughter of the woman he had once loved? Still, he had to know. There was a connection between him and Lara. He’d felt it from the beginning. This could explain it. Perhaps they were destined to find the happiness that had eluded their parents.
    He forced himself to walk into the living room, where his father was watching a basketball game. “Dad?”
    His father blinked, then regarded him with surprise. “Back already? Didn’t your date go well?”
    Was there disappointment in his voice? Dave wondered. “Actually we postponed it,” he told his father. “There’s something I need to ask you.”
    â€œShoot.”
    â€œDo you know Lara Calhoun?”
    â€œNo.”
    Dave looked him straight in the eye. His father had never lied to him, not once. “Did you know her mother?”
    His father looked away, then sighed heavily. “Yes. Susan Calhoun was the woman I was engaged to marry. She was Susan Davis then.”
    â€œWhy would Mitch Calhoun call you to do a repair job over there? Or didn’t he know about your past with his wife?”
    For the first time ever, his father looked guilty. “He didn’t call. I sent you over there on my own. I wanted you to meet Susan’s daughter. Call it a whim, but I knew it was the right thing to do.”
    Dave regarded his father with bemusement. “But the steps were wobbly.”
    â€œIt was an old house. I figured the odds were in my favor.”
    â€œOh, Dad,” he said, not sure whether to laugh or cry.
    â€œShe looks just like her mother,” Peter said, his expression nostalgic. “I’ve seen her over the years, never up close, always by chance. Of the three girls, Lara was most like Susan.”
    â€œShe’s beautiful,” Dave said.
    â€œAnd you were drawn to her, isn’t that right? Don’t walk away from this because of my part in arranging the meeting.”
    Dave reached for his father’s hand, gave it a squeeze. “I’m not going to walk away,” he said quietly, then admitted to his father…and himself, “I don’t think I could.”
    * * *
    Lara was still sitting in the attic, that snapshot clutched in her hand, when the doorbell rang. It was Dave. She knew it was. How could she face him, knowing what she knew, that her mother and his father had once been engaged, that his father had broken her mother’s heart? The picture had been undeniable proof. The man in it had looked exactly like Dave, same square jaw, same eyes, same tousled, sun-streaked hair from working outdoors.
    In the snapshot he had been holding a baby. She had known instinctively that the baby was Dave, the man who had suddenly appeared in her life just that afternoon. The man who was already close to stealing her heart.
    She took her time going downstairs this time, debating her options, weighing what was right…for her mother, for herself.
    When she opened the door, Dave took one look at her face and said, “You know, don’t you?”
    She nodded and held out the picture. Her hand trembled. “I found this in the trunk along with more valentines. He’s your father, isn’t he?”
    Dave nodded, looking as stricken as she felt, yet calmer somehow, as if he’d come to some sort of a decision, as if he’d made peace with it.
    â€œYes,” he said. “If you’ll invite me in, I’ll explain. I’ll tell you everything I found out