Perfect Fit (Serendipity's Finest 1)

Ella patted her hand. “I just wanted you to know that if you need someone to talk to about your parents, I’m here. And if you’re worried I might not approve of you and Michael, well, you’d be wrong.”

Cara’s eyes opened wide. “Mike and I aren’t…we’re not—”

“No worries, dear. We’re all grown-ups.” Ella winked at her, and Cara prayed for strength.

“Right. Well, thank you for the offer to talk about my parents.” Wow. Her family had suddenly become the easier conversation, Cara thought, still reeling from Ella’s frank words.

“I mean it, honey. It can’t be easy for you,” Ella said, in a purely motherly way that put Cara at ease.

“Thank you. I appreciate it, but there’s nothing to say. My mother made her choice to stay years ago. And I made mine not to see her unless she leaves him.” She waited for Ella to condemn her for her choices, but instead she nodded in understanding.

“I’m sure it wasn’t an easy decision.” Like Mike, Ella and her compassion and understanding made Cara feel more secure and at ease about her course of action than she’d been before. Maybe it did help to share, to have someone to talk to.

“It was a hellish choice,” Cara admitted. “But anything short of sticking to it will only enable an ugly situation or make me so angry I get physically ill.” She glanced down, embarrassed.

“Oh, honey, there’s no shame in taking care of you. That was their job, and for whatever reason they fell short.” Ella leaned in close, reassuring as only a wise, loving parent could.

“That’s what Mike said.” Cara managed to meet Ella’s gaze.

“I knew I raised that boy right.”

Cara nodded at that. Mike was a really decent guy.

“But you still feel guilty,” Ella said, not dropping the subject.

Cara sighed. “I alternate between feeling like an awful daughter for taking care of myself and a self-righteous one for not understanding where my mother’s coming from. I volunteer with women just like her, and I understand her world isn’t simple.”

“And yet you beat yourself up over something you can’t control,” Ella said, covering Cara’s hand with her own.

The warmth she offered caused a lump to form in Cara’s throat.

“I, of all people, know what it’s like to doubt myself and my choices,” Ella said softly.

“You do?” Cara would have thought Ella Marsden was so certain in every decision she made.

“Oh, Cara. You must know the story of how I ended up married to Simon, right?”

Cara didn’t know which part of the story Ella was referring to. “I know you were involved with someone before Simon,” she said delicately.

“I got pregnant and he left me,” Ella said bluntly.

Not expecting such frank talk, Cara blinked in surprise.

“Simon was my best friend and he stepped up immediately to take care of me—as in he offered to marry me and adopt the baby as his.”

“And that wasn’t an easy decision to make?” Cara asked.

“No, it wasn’t.” Ella glanced down. “It didn’t seem fair.”

Cara’s heart clenched at the other woman’s honesty. “You loved Mike’s real father a lot, didn’t you?”

Ella nodded. “At one time, but he wasn’t the man I thought.”

And Simon was, Cara thought.

“But Simon? It’s true and real. A love born of shared lives and children and appreciation for what a good, solid man he is. I love the life we’ve shared.”

Cara smiled. The Marsdens had always been an example to look up to, a couple to be envious of and to emulate. “So no regrets?” Cara asked.