A Touch of Grace by Linda Goodnight

Author:Linda Goodnight
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Steeple Hill
Published: 2007-03-02T06:00:00+00:00

Her eyes crinkled. “Melinda Harris?”

“Third grade femme fatale. I would have jumped off the Empire State Building for her.”

“Did she fall madly in love with you after this great sacrifice?”

He gave an exaggerated sigh of defeat, letting his shoulders droop. “No, she moved to Tennessee before I could even show off my cast. I was heartbroken, let me tell you.”

“He was such a sweet boy,” Margot said. “All the little girls were crazy for him.”

Gretchen grinned at his discomfort. “I’ll just bet they were.”

“Actually, they liked me because my mom packed homemade cookies in my backpack to share in the cafeteria.”

“Oh, go on with that.” Margot flipped the page and pointed. “Here’s his sixth birthday party. Look at all those kids around him.”

“Again, Mom. I had cake to share. And ice cream.”

His mother pushed the air with one hand and kept turning pages, pointing out the well-documented chronicle of his childhood.

“What’s this one?” Gretchen touched a picture of him in a hospital bed, pale as the sheets, an IV running into his arm. Colorful balloons and teddy bears lined the bedside table and nightstand. “Were you sick?”

“Meningitis, wasn’t it, Mom?” His memories from that time in the hospital were nothing more than vague, disturbed impressions.

“Oh, yes. My poor darling.” Margot shook her head as she studied the photo. “He was so sick. All because of an earache. His temperature shot up to 105 and he was limp as a dishrag. For days he didn’t know a thing. Just lay there with fever coming off him in waves, whimpering like a puppy. We prayed the house down, I’ll tell you. Scared out of our minds that we’d lose him after waiting all those years to get him.”

“I don’t remember too much about it.” He’d only been five.

Margot reached across and patted his knee. “And a mercy that is, too, son.”

“Except for the ice cream.” And the fear that his parents would leave him in the hospital and not come back because he was so much trouble. He kept that memory to himself. “Dad brought ice cream, six different flavors.”

“Your daddy was so distraught. He thought if he tempted you with enough foods, you’d eat something. Bless his heart.” She gave a little shiver. “Turn the page, Gretchen. I only keep those pictures as a reminder of how much God has blessed me, of how He answered our prayers for a child and then brought that child through a life-threatening illness. He’s been so good to us.”

His mother’s comment touched a soft place in Ian’s heart. All his life, she’d talked like that, calling him a blessing. He wondered why he had so much trouble accepting the compliment.

If Margot’s talk of God bothered Gretchen, she didn’t let it show. She continued to turn the pages of the album, asking questions, making comments and sharing an occasional laugh at Ian’s antics.

Page after page went by, mostly of him and his friends. Pets, camps, clubs. His parents and the small clutch of extended family that arrived on holidays.

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