page17 (1/2)

“Not like you, Amara You really inspire me and lots of people to be better, you know? To reach for so that matters and will last”

Hearing that, A back her emotions cracked, split in two “I don’t deserve your praise”

“Of course you do”

“No, I really don’t, Kari I’ up my baby, but I don’t really want to I’m a bad person”

“That’s ridiculous There’s nothing wrong with giving up a baby for adoption Hey, don’t cry It’s okay You don’t have to give him up if you don’t want to”

“Oh, Kari I have to give him up But I really, really want to see him And at the same tio I read a lot about that Moht now to see him, and even that’s hard to take”

Kari studied her thoughtfully “If you’re having second thoughts, you should take so, you know? Once those final papers are signed, and the baby’s with the adoptive parents, you’re not gonna be able to change yourYou only have a few days to reconsider before you can’t do anything about it”

Ahtly, and she lowered her head “I … I don’t know if the law applies in my case It’s complicated”

“What do you mean, complicated? It seems pretty simple to me You’re not ready for a child, the father’s out of the picture, there’s a nice, well-to-do couple ant to adopt, and you hts It couldn’t be ”

A, soain and who could advise her She’d been wanting to tell Kari for so long, but part of her was uncertain about how Kari ht think differently about her after discovering the pact she’d made with Quint Forbes

Amara took a deep breath and was calht into the room for her She couldn’t hold the truth back anymore

Before she could stop herself, she began to confess “Oh God, Kari I haven’t told you everything The truth, about everything There is no couple, and the father is very much in the picture”

Chapter Nine

KARI’S EYES WIDENED, AND SHE inhaled sharply “He is? But you said —”

“Wait,” A else “It’s a whole different thing, and I couldn’t tell you because it’s … irregular There’s this guy I knew, that I know, and he wanted a baby, so I did the inse to do with him outside of that We talk on the phone and text and email and stuff, but we don’t actually see each other, not often He travels a lot on business”