Some years ago, in their early twenties, Adele Hawthorne and Dan Brimicombe were in love, and looking forward to a family together. Then Adele was diagnosed with cervical cancer. It had spread to her uterus, and she needed a hysterectomy. No children, ever.
Dan had a large, happy family, and looked forward, like his siblings, to raising his own large, happy family. Instead of telling Dan about her diagnosis, and letting him support her through her treatment and make his own decision about whether he wanted to stick with her despite the loss of any prospect of children together, she decided for him. Convinced that he couldn't be happy without children, and that he would nevertheless try to do the right thing and might persuade her, she tells him her feelings have changed, and breaks it off.
They're both heartbroken, but since they no longer have any contact, neither knows how the other feels.
Now, with thirty closing in on both of them, they meet again.
Dan stayed in Toronto and went to work for a clean energy company. He's now CFO, and the youngest executive in the C-suite. Adele moved to Banff, and started her own business, as a wedding planner.
Dan is now best man for the biggest, most spectacular wedding she has planned so far. It's a shock to both him and Adele when meet when he arrives for the pre-wedding preparations.
The next week is a wild roller coaster. for them.
Both Adele and Dan are good, decent people. And they're both being unfair. Even when Adele finally tells him what really happened, he still feels that he can't trust her, because she didn't trust him, and because she lied to him. And Adele--yes, she did lie to him. She didn't give him a chance, and she couldn't bring herself to trust him to not resent her in the future--to really decide whether or not he could accept a life without children of their own, and tell her the truth.
Now, it turns out Adele really does have reasons, unrelated to this, for having trust issues. That's not Dan's fault. And Dan isn't understanding just how traumatic the cancer diagnosis and the hysterectomy were for her. That was upsetting for any woman, but especially for a young woman planning on a family.
They've never gotten over each other. They both tell themselves they've moved on, but they haven't. They both have a lot of issues to work through, with each other and with themselves.
And Alward handles it very, very well. This is a warm, kind novel, with people you can care about--and not just our main characters.
Recommended.
I received a free electronic galley from the publisher, and am reviewing it voluntarily.
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