Taken by Barbara Freethy Page A

because I did.”
    Despite her grandmother’s vehement tone, Kayla wasn’t quite convinced. “What about the guy in the photo? How did you feel about him? Was he part of your wild time?”
    “Yes,” she said after a moment. “He was part of that time and very special to me. He was a charmer, Kayla, so handsome and smooth he swept me off my feet. It was instant attraction. I fell head over heels before I even knew his name. And I couldn’t think straight when he was around.” She took a breath. “Some people thought I was a fool, but he was good to me. I had never met a man so passionate. When he was around me the air sizzled. I suppose that sounds silly, but that’s the way it seemed to me.
    I was a young woman. I didn’t know what to make of the feelings he stirred up in me.”
    Kayla cleared her throat, feeling a bit warm and uncomfortable by the candidness of her grandmother’s remarks. It was a little too much information, and a part of her very much wanted to drop the whole subject, but she couldn’t. If she didn’t ask her grandmother the questions, Nick would, and this was her family business, not his.
    “What was his name?”
    “Johnny. His name was Johnny.”
    “What happened to him? Why didn’t you stay together?”
    “He went away.” Sadness filled her eyes. “It still hurts, TA K E N
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    even now, fifty years later. But he had to go, and I had to let him go. That was that, the end of our love story.”
    “Why didn’t you go after him? Or why didn’t he come back?” Kayla asked. It felt strange to be discussing a man other than her grandfather. But whom would it hurt? Her grandfather had passed on.
    “It wasn’t meant to be. After Johnny left I met Edward, and we got married and had your mother. I ended up with you as my beautiful granddaughter,” she added with a smile. “I had a great life.”
    Her words were positive and cheerful, but Kayla could see a lingering sadness in her grandmother’s eyes. Had it always been there? Had Kayla never noticed it before?
    They’d been close over the years, but not really confi-dantes, not until now. “But you didn’t have a great life with your first love,” she murmured. “You must have missed him.”
    “Terribly.” Charlotte paused. “Johnny left the watch with me before he went away. He said he’d be back to get it, that it would remind me of him and of our love, and that I should never let it out of my sight. It would be a symbol of our future together. I was young, only twenty-three years old. When he said he’d come back, I believed him with all my heart. I thought he could do anything. I thought he could beat the odds.” She drew in a long, shaky breath. “But years passed and he didn’t return. I kept the watch tucked away in my panty drawer. I’m not sure why. Every once in a while I’d remember, and I’d take it out and look at it and think about him. After your grandfather died, and I decided to move out of the house and get on with the next stage of my life, I thought it was time to give up the watch, too. That’s why I gave it to 72
    Barbara Freethy
    you. It was about love, Kayla, and I wanted you to give it to the man you loved.”
    “Well, that didn’t work out too well.” Kayla felt even worse now that she knew the whole story. She hadn’t just lost the watch; she’d lost the only thing her grandmother had left from her first love. “I’m so sorry. I should have waited, made sure Evan was going to last, that our relationship and our love were the real thing. I made so many mistakes.” She hesitated, curious about something else.
    “I guess Grandpa didn’t know about this other guy if you kept the watch tucked away?”
    “He knew there was someone else before him, but not anything more. Edward didn’t ask, and I didn’t tell.” She looked Kayla straight in the eyes. “Don’t misunderstand, Kayla. I loved your grandfather. Edward was a wonderful man. I don’t want you to think any differently about