What Might Have Been is a novel about a family who asks that very question. What might have been if Noah Ridgeley’s wife hadn’t left him without explanation? What might have been if Kyle Ridgeley’s mother hadn’t run off when Kyle was only two?
Noah’s gone on with his life since his wife disappeared ten years ago. He’s bought a business and become engaged to the woman he might have married if he hadn’t met the elusive Devon. What he does not know is that the older his daughter Kyle gets, the more she wants answers to questions most children take for granted: where her mother came from, what her favorite ice cream was, if she loved her. No one will answer these questions, so Kyle takes it upon herself to find the answers. Kyle runs away, and when Noah finds her, he also finds the woman he once loved.
Excerpt
"Have you ever thought about getting married?"
Devon slid onto her back and stared up at the dirty ceiling tiles. "There aren't that many men standing outside my door with engagement rings, Noah."
"All it takes is one."
"But I don't see it happening any time soon."
"Would it help if I got down on one knee?"
"You?" She glanced at him and laughed.
"I'm serious."
Devon stared at him, the color washing away from her silky skin as though she'd been drenched in a shower of bleach. She climbed off the bed and pulled a stained T-shirt over her head, curled up in her only chair.
"You shouldn't even joke about stuff like that."
"I'm not joking."
"You can't marry me," she said. "Guys like you--I'm just some summer fling you'll look back on when you're bored with your life and wonder what might have been. You don't marry girls like me." She studied his face a second, then her voice softened. "I bet you have some high school sweetheart waiting for you back in that town you come from."
Noah shrugged. "Something like that. But in all the time I've known her, I haven't felt half what I feel for you."
She smiled despite herself, but her eyes never wavered from his face. "It's because I'm different, I'm part of a world you've only imagined. It's exciting, but it won't always be."
Noah crossed to her and knelt at her feet. "You're afraid, I understand."
"No, you don't understand."
"Okay, maybe I don't. I have no idea what it's been like for you. But I know I love you and surely that's enough."
Devon groaned deep in her throat and tears began to trickle down her cheeks. "You're such a child." She stroked his cheek with the tips of her fingers. "You believe love can conquer all, don't you?"
"As corny as that sounds."
"And what if it doesn't work out?"
Noah kissed the palm of her hand. "At least we gave it a try."
"You'll regret it," she whispered. "You'll hate me someday…."
South Baltimore serves as the backdrop for this gripping story of three brothers leading very different lives but joined forever by the secrets of a painful family past.
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