Second Chances by Leigh Brown, Victoria Corliss

making a terrible mistake. We were perfect for each other. So I told him about us, how much we loved each other, how good we were together, and the whole time I prayed he would do the right thing and let you go. That’s why I think Harry is an honorable man, he put your needs above his own your happiness came first with him.”
    Understanding dawned slowly but surely as Pashmina tried to make sense of what he was saying. My God, what had he done? “You told Harry about us?” Nausea woke inside her making her sick to her stomach. “Why, why would you do that to me?”
    It’s the right thing to do. How did this happen? She couldn’t believe Harry would agree but obviously George had convinced him. She’d lost the love of her life and her marriage because of George. She’d trusted him, cared about him, carried his child. Bile rose in her throat at the thought.
    After the baby was born she’d almost refused to let it go, just one look and she’d fallen completely in love. But she was scared. What did she know about being a mother and how could she possibly live without Harry? Adoption was the best option for both of them.
    Or so she’d thought until she finally saw Harry again and then she wondered if she’d made the right choice after all. Harry was engaged to be married to his childhood sweetheart. “She’s a wonderful girl, lovely and kind,” he told her in a voice so tender it nearly broke her heart. “But not as strong as you Pashmina, she needs me.”
    She needs me . If his words didn’t hurt so much they’d be funny. But there was nothing at all humorous about her situation. Harry was lost to her. George was gone. Her baby was gone. Just me, myself, and I she thought with steely resolve. And that’s how it’d been ever since.
    “Pashmina?” George was looking at her, concern barely masking his happy expression. “We should be celebrating our reunion not mourning the past.”
    She stared at him blankly. For so many years she’d struggled to manage the past, ignore the pain of loss and her own costly mistakes. And for what? The past was all a lie anyway. What if she’d told Harry the truth back then, begged for his forgiveness, and convinced him her love was real, would things have turned out different? Maybe, maybe not, but thanks to George, she’d never know.
    “You bastard!” she snarled, slapping away his hands reaching out to calm her. “Get away from me! You ruined my life and now you want me to be happy about it?”
    Pashmina’s chest heaved as hot tears spilled onto her cheeks and she could feel the curious stares of the other patrons judging her. Fuck them. She didn’t care.
    “You had no right George.” Barely able to look at him, she stood to leave.
    “Pashmina wait.”
    “For what, so you can hurt me some more? I don’t think so.” But there was something she needed to know. “Just tell me one thing, if you had met me here that day would you have told me the truth about Harry then?”
    She waited for him to answer, a cocoon of quiet surrounding them blocking out everything and everyone except the two of them. Their eyes met and locked hard granite to icy steel.
    “No,” he said shattering the silence.
    She tilted her head as if hearing sound for the first time and saw life happening all around her; a group of teenage girls was preening and giggling trying to catch the attention of a group of young men, a mother pushed a stroller, protectively tucking a blanket around her infant as she went, an elderly couple bowed and bent with age held hands as they walked, their movements synchronized like two dancers who’ve waltzed together a lifetime.
    Pashmina shook her head sadly sending cob-webbed memories and futile wishes scattering. So much time wasted pining for a man she’d lost, a man she’d never have again thanks to George. But no more, she was done.
    “Wrong answer,” she replied, stepping onto the crowded sidewalk where the flow of people swept her away from the misery