“At the Neighborhood Club they specialize in fear. They might teach you to run like your life depends on it when no one is chasing you. No matter what it is, they’ll dig in and search for some kind of answer.

“When you’re lucky enough to find help putting together a satisfying and productive life, as I was, you come away with a few lessons. I’d like to share them with you, if I can, though I’m still learning and growing and nowhere near ready to stop.

“Just because you’re poor doesn’t mean you have to be poor in spirit.

“Just because you’ve lost faith doesn’t mean you can’t learn to trust again.

“Just because you’re afraid doesn’t mean you’re doomed.

“Just because you’re angry doesn’t mean you have to live in rage.

“Just because you’ve been wronged doesn’t mean you can’t forgive, often forgiving yourself first.

“Just because you’re hurt doesn’t mean you won’t heal.

“Just because you fell back a few steps doesn’t mean your next step can’t move you forward again.

“Just because it’s very dark doesn’t mean there is no light ahead.

“And just because you’ve been let down and disappointed doesn’t mean you won’t find love. The kind of love that is safe, enduring and powerful.”

* * *

Lin Su listened to Blake’s words. She knew she would be impressed; she’d been impressed since the moment they first met. She loved him. While he spoke about the struggle of his life and the powerful forces that seemed to plot against his success, she was examining her own baggage. Every single point he listed applied to her directly. She had resented her adoptive family not caring about her, and now that one did, she resisted. She had been poor and bereft, and now that she lived well, she threatened to throw it all away and move, just to have her way. She had hated Charlie’s father for his lack of committed love, so refused to yield to love and trust offered by a better man.

There was a standing ovation for Blake, and Lin Su was the very first to her feet. The only person in the room who didn’t stand was Winnie. Blake shook hands with the director, then turned to exit the platform and walk back to his table. His eyes were on Lin Su and her eyes were on him. As he neared his table, she began to walk toward him.

And right into his arms.

He held her close, his big arms enfolding her. She turned her tearing eyes up to his face. “I might be a little stubborn,” she said.

“A little?” he asked, smiling.

“I’d like to try to do better. I’d like another chance.”

“I love you, Lin Su. As long as you let me, I can be there for you.”

“I love you,” she said. “I’m a crazy mess. Just so you’re warned.”

“I’m not afraid,” he said. Then he lifted her chin with a finger and kissed her in front of the world.

Epilogue

Grace and Troy welcomed their baby girl into the world in the early morning after the fund-raiser. Christmas at Winnie’s home was much more populated than anyone expected as Troy’s parents and younger brother arrived in Thunder Point to celebrate the arrival of a new granddaughter. Blake offered them bedrooms in his house and joined them all for Christmas dinner.

The new baby was so often in one of her grandmothers’ arms she barely needed the sheet changed on her bassinette.

Lin Su and Charlie spent a great deal of time at Blake’s house over Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. Blake gave Charlie some athletic gear—bike pants, new running shoes, a jacket, a gym bag. Lin Su gave Blake the hand-monogramed towels, which he found perfect. But the showstopper was a diamond ring for Lin Su. When she opened it and saw what it was, she shot a nervous glance at Charlie.

“Don’t sweat it, Mom. He asked my permission.”

When Christmas and New Year’s had passed, Lin Su made contact with her adoptive sister Leigh. They had several long talks and she could see that what Charlie said was true—she was awesomely nice. She also had a lot of information that helped Lin Su fit together the pieces of her life. According to Leigh, Gordon Simmons had never been an involved father to any of his daughters so in that Lin Su was not alone. It was Marilyn Simmons who had wanted to adopt and to that end Gordon hired a lawyer who dealt in such matters and the lawyer put together a deal with an immigrating Vietnamese woman with a three-year-old child she could not provide for. It was the kind of thing Gordon did—if his wife wanted something, he got it for her and then excused himself from the situation. In speaking to Gordon, Leigh discovered that the story that Lin Su’s mother was dying was a lie.

He had information about Lin Su’s mother squirreled away in his locked files. “I’m in the process of seeing if I can locate her. I won’t do anything without your approval,” Leigh said. “Maybe you don’t want to have contact with her.”

“But I do,” Lin Su said. “If only to know she’s well. I’m sure if she’s alive she has a new life, one that doesn’t have room for me. I can live with that but I remember her. Vaguely, but I remember.”

* * *

It was the middle of February when Leigh Simmons traveled to Thunder Point from the East Coast to reconnect with Lin Su and to meet Charlie. Lin Su asked Blake if the reunion could happen at his house. “You don’t have to offer her a guest room—she should be fine in a motel—but I have no space to entertain her.”

Nothing, it seemed, could please Blake more. “You’ve come a long way in a short time,” he said.

“Just because my heart was broken doesn’t mean it can’t be whole again,” she said.

When the day came, Lin Su was so jittery and nervous she was forced to take a day off on the promise that, when her sister arrived, Lin Su would take her next door to meet Winnie. When a car door was finally heard in front of Blake’s house, Lin Su froze.

Charlie didn’t. “She’s here!” he said, jumping to his feet and running out the front door.

“It’s going to be all right, you know,” Blake said. “She’s here to make amends. You’ve already become friends.”

Then Charlie shouted from the front door. “Mom! Mom! You are not going to believe this!”

Lin Su stood on shaky legs, ready to accept her estranged sister. When Leigh entered, she let out her breath. She was forty-two and yet had hardly changed. She was tall, slim, blonde and oozed confidence. She had a bright and loving smile that radiated warmth. She didn’t wait for Lin Su to make the first move; she rushed to her and embraced her.