“And, Imogene? When you realized it was Valentin waiting at the altar for you today? How did you feel when you saw him?”
“Confused,” she said bluntly.
“And?” Alice prompted.
“Fine, I was attracted to him. But attraction isn’t the only thing necessary to make a marriage work. We proved that already.”
“Yes, you did,” Alice conceded. “But since that attraction still burns between you, don’t you think you owe it to yourselves to find out if, under different circumstances from those in which you originally met, you can make an honest attempt at a good marriage?”
“I believed I was making more than an attempt at the time,” Imogene protested. “I loved Valentin with all my heart. A heart he subsequently broke.”
Alice sighed and leaned back in her chair, settling her hands in a loose clasp in her lap. “I see,” she acknowledged. “And it still hurts, doesn’t it?”
Imogene gave Alice a stiff nod.
“Then you still have unresolved feelings for my grandson, don’t you?”
Valentin made a sound of protest. “Nagy, that’s not fair. She made her decision a long time ago. You can’t make us do this. It’s cruel and unnecessary.”
“It’s never easy facing your failures,” Alice said, slowly and stiffly rising from her seat. “I will leave you two for a few minutes to discuss this further. I strongly urge you to give your marriage one more chance. Your circumstances have changed dramatically since then. Neither of you is as young or as volatile as you were and, I might point out, neither of you has found a more suitable mate since. Please, discuss this as rational adults. Be certain that you won’t spend the rest of your lives wondering if you should have given each other another chance. I will wait outside for your decision. Don’t make me wait too long.”
Copyright © 2018 by Dolce Vita Trust
ISBN-13: 9781488046315
The Billionaire Renegade
Copyright © 2018 by Catherine Mann
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