Carly's Gift (42 page)

“No,” Carly said softly.

“I'm glad. I never had the guts to ask you before, but I always wondered.”

“Why did you bring me the flyer, Shawn?”

“At first I wasn't going to because I know when you think about him it brings everything back, but then I was flipping through the book and saw the dedication. He still loves you, Mom. I think you ought to check it out.” He grinned. “You're not getting any younger, you know. Single guys your age are pretty hard to find.”

The chime over the door sounded. They both turned to see Eric come striding in waving a piece of paper. “Hey, Mom, you'll never guess who's going to be in Denver tonight.”

Shawn turned back to his mother. “Looks like that makes it two out of two who think you should go,” he said.

“Two out of three,” she corrected him.

“What the hell, it's still a majority.”

Carly eased her way around the people waiting in line to have their books signed by David. She'd never been to an autographing before and was bemused by the number of fans.

The closer she got to the table, the more convinced she was that she'd made a mistake in coming. For the first time in three years she was at peace with herself. Seeing David would only bring the pain back again.

The two women standing next to Carly moved closer together, guarding their position in line. The taller one dipped her head and said to her friend, “Did you read the dedication? Does anyone know who this Carly woman is?”

Curiosity tugged at Carly. She spotted a large display of
The Way It Should Have Been,
went over and picked up a copy, not realizing until the book was actually in her hand how afraid of it she was. She didn't want to know what wondrous things Andrea had missed, even if only in David's imagination.

A band tightened around her chest as she turned the pages. And then there it was.

Carly—the lilacs are in bloom. Whisper my name and I will find you.

She stared at the words until tears stole them away.

“Carly?”

She turned and saw David get up from his chair and start toward her.

Her doubts vanished. After a lifetime of wandering, she was home again.

P.S. About the author Meet Georgia Bockoven About the book A Note from Georgia Reading Group Discussion Questions Read on Have You Read? More from Georgia Bockoven

About the author

Meet Georgia Bockoven

G
EORGIA
B
OCKOVEN
is an award-winning author who began writing fiction after a successful career as a freelance journalist and photographer. Her books have sold more than three million copies worldwide. The mother of two resides in Northern California with her husband, John.

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www.AuthorTracker.com
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About the book

A Note from Georgia

Jolly Old England

My characters have always easily and eagerly sprung from my imagination. But it doesn't matter how much research I do on a location, I never feel I've gotten it “right” until I've seen it for myself. I hadn't originally planned to have so much of
Carly's Gift
take place in England. I thought it would be possible to fudge a little on the details and it would quiet that obnoxious voice in my head that insisted I know of which I speak. Or, in this case, write.

No deal.

As I outlined the story in my head and asked myself simple questions—like what does it feel like to stand in the middle of Westminster Abbey and look up over a hundred feet at the incredibly detailed, lacelike ceiling, or to float down the Thames to Hampton Court—that voice grew to a crescendo.

So off to England we flew. From San Francisco. It was eleven hours in the center of the center seats in the middle of the cheap seats in a completely full plane. When we arrived, Heathrow overwhelmed me; John took it in stride—thank goodness!

The highlights? Oxford, Cambridge, and Eton. I was Carly when she visits Cambridge in the book, filled with an intense hunger to be one of the students. The British Museum came in a close second. We'd scheduled a day for a quick look and spent three and a half days instead, wishing we could squeeze in more.

I soon realized that doing my usual intimate research, which involves visiting parks and pubs, using public transportation, perusing the aisles of grocery stores, and walking down the streets in neighborhoods where ordinary people like me live, simply wasn't going to work this time. London was too varied and complex and eclectic for me to get a true feel for what it would be like to live there. This was when I decided the story of this city had to be told from a “tourist” viewpoint, and Carly was the logical choice.

Luckily we were on our own and not bound to an itinerary and could zip over to Harrods and then to Leicester Square to the Half Price Ticket Booth to see what play was available that night. We did this several times, never getting adjacent seats but seeing some wonderful plays and musicals, including
Miss Saigon
. One day we spent the entire day riding the Tube, getting off at each station on the line to go up and walk around and then head back down for the next stop.

We never rented a car; we didn't have to. Outside the city the trains took us everywhere we wanted to go, and once there we could get a bus or cab or walk to our final destination.

We also discovered that the one sure way to get someone to stop and offer help is to stand on a street corner with an open map and a look of utter confusion on your face—thank you to all of those wonderful Londoners who came to our aid. And speaking of street corners, I'm convinced now that I am missing the “direction” gene. No matter how many times I reminded myself that the cars drove on the opposite side of the street in England, I got it wrong when I tried to cross. I think John held my hand more times in the three weeks we were there than any three-week period since.

Sadly (but understandably), only a fraction of what I saw and experienced made it into the book. At the time I put myself to sleep at night weaving paragraphs and scenes and chapters around the sights and sounds and emotions I'd experienced that day, picturing how Carly would see the world her beloved daughter had entered.

I'm one of those writers who become compulsively involved with their characters, and on the flight home I was gifted with a sense of well-being. Knowing Andrea lived and was loved in a city that had captured my heart made her story infinitely easier to tell.

Reading Group Discussion Questions

1.  “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” This Maya Angelou quote is the theme that runs throughout 
Carly's Gift
 and shapes the characters' lives. Do you understand the reasoning that drove Carly not to tell David about what happened to her and that drove her to marry Ethan? Do you believe someone as young as she was at the time could be that selfless? Or do you think that such grand gestures are more likely to come from the idealism of youth?

2.  Did Ethan's more selfish but equally grand gesture of marrying Carly set up his inability to put the past behind them? Was there something more that Carly could have done to help him get over his jealousy?

3.  Do you believe the old saying that you never forget your first love? If so, how much of that comes into play with the feelings Carly and David have for each other?

4.  After David recognized there was no way he and Carly would ever be together, what do you think his motives were for agreeing to let Andrea come live with him? How do you think you would have reacted under the same circumstances? What could motivate you to take a child into your home whom you'd known less than a month?

5.  Carly acknowledges she made a huge mistake when she married Ethan. She also recognizes that she was doing the best she could at the time. How important to the story do you think it is that she was able to do this?

6.  Did you understand Ethan's need to have Andrea stay with David? Considering he believed David to be Andrea's father, do you think there was anything he could have done differently to convince Carly it was the right thing to do?

7.  Could you see the progression and change in Carly's decisions as the story unfolded? In particular, how she did better when she knew better? Other than time and experience, what do you think hastened this progress?

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