The Color of Hope (The Color of Heaven Series) Read Online Free PDF Page A

turned me into a reject?
    It wasn’t something I ever discussed with my mom, not after the first time when she and Dad accused me of being ungrateful for everything they’d done, when no one else wanted me.
    I understand now that they felt hurt and rejected by my desire to know more about my birth parents, so after that I kept those questions to myself. I didn’t explore my feelings or try to gain a better insight into my soul, which probably contributed to my separation anxiety and fear of abandonment.
    Consequently, when something good finally came my way, I was afraid to trust it.

Discovery

Chapter Twelve
    Diana Moore
    W HAT IS HOPE , exactly? Is it the longing for something, such as the fulfilment of a dream? Or is it a sense of optimism within you, a sense of trust, an unwavering belief that everything is going to be okay?
    My name is Diana Moore, and for the most part, I’ve lived a charmed life. I was raised in a loving home by parents who adopted me as a newborn. My father is now a senator and my mother is a respected philanthropist. I had the best of everything growing up, and I was fortunate enough to pursue and succeed in a career I am passionate about. Today I am a successful divorce attorney, and I usually do well for my clients.
    To an outside observer, I have no reason to ever be unhappy. I am a healthy, attractive, and financially secure, independent woman.
    But how important are those things when hope and optimism leave you? What happens when you believe you’ve been blessed by a miracle, but then it’s immediately ripped out of your hands? How can you truly be happy when you’ve been betrayed in the worst possible way by those you trusted, and all your beliefs – in others and yourself – have been obliterated? What happens when you simply give up on people, and stop letting them in?
    I can’t answer that question for everyone, but I can share my own story. Perhaps you’ll take something away from it. Something that gives you a measure of hope.

    It was the spring of 2011 when my world first began to shift on its axis. I was twenty-five years old and working at a law firm in Los Angeles, with the lofty goal of becoming a partner one day. I knew it would take years, but I felt confident that it would happen eventually, because I was an ambitious, positive thinker, and I was performing exceedingly well. I’d even been dubbed ‘Rookie Superstar of the Year’ when I brought in more new clients than any other first year lawyer in the firm – ever.
    But I’ll give credit where credit is due. It probably had something to do with the fact that my father was a popular senator, and there were some who considered him to be a likely candidate for President. I was therefore a high-profile addition to the team at Berkley, Davidson, Simon, and Jones. New, young clients with relationship problems began calling the firm to ask for me specifically.
    That’s when I met Rick, but not because he was getting a divorce. I saw him for the first time at a charity baseball game for the Children’s Wish Foundation in the fall of that year. As luck would have it, I was wearing a bulky sweatshirt and a pair of faded blue jeans with a baseball cap on my head, and I was sitting in the back row of the bleachers at a local little league ball field.
    “Holy cow, that is the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen,” my friend Candace said, touching my arm and raising her water bottle to her lips.
    “Who?” I looked around the ball field.
    “Not on the field,” she said. “In the parking lot by the black Audi. Eight o’clock. Yep, right there, moving along the fence. Black suit, blue tie.”
    “Wow,” I replied, and nearly choked on the last bite of granola bar I’d popped into my mouth.
    The gentleman in question was tall, dark, muscular, and handsome. As he drew nearer, I saw that he was blessed with one of those extraordinary faces with well-defined, chiseled features and captivating blue eyes. He entered the ball