Ben by Rose Middleton

Author:Rose Middleton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: widower romance, small town romance
Publisher: Rose Middleton
Published: 2021-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Five

The Wills Crossing cemetery sprawled across grassy acres on the eastern edge of the town. Monuments over a century old rose high into the sky, their ornate calligraphy etched into the stone telling dozens of timeless stories. Under a blazing sun, Beth stood at the entrance to the central ground under a wrought iron arch fashioned by her great grandfather. She remembered her parents bringing Danny and her to the cemetery when they were kids, showing them the plots of their ancestors.

Back then, Danny groaned about how boring cemeteries were. In contrast, Beth loved strolling through the rows of graves, reading the epitaphs and imagining how the early settlers had survived the colonial years. The hills surrounding the town were rumored to hold millions of pounds of gold but the legend turned out to be false. No gold was ever found. It didn’t stop bushrangers from terrorizing those trying to build their homes. Nor had it stopped her great-great grandparents from emigrating from Britain.

Generations of the Taylor family watched over those who’d made the Crossing their home. Knowing the comfort her ancestors provided during those harsh times grounded Beth, giving her the sense that something beyond Rob’s death had brought her back. She was here in the Crossing for a purpose and she intended to repay the healing powers of her hometown tenfold.

Hot wind swirled around her, practically searing her bare arms and ruffling the broad brim of her hat. The cemetery currently had three grounds, as they called them. The main ground was the original cemetery, while the north and south grounds lay to the left and right of where she stood. Beyond these, the curators had begun planning several more areas, catering for the booming population.

She wished Rob were here, but he had particular instructions for her in the case of his passing. She had followed them, cremating his body and scattering his ashes in his favorite childhood places, but with his parent’s blessing, she had a marker set here in the Crossing. Unlike his parents, she needed a physical place to remember him. It afforded her somewhere to go when the desire to be near him gripped her. Turning to the left, she gazed far into the distance of the northern ground where his plate had been installed.

Guilt slid through her. She’d visited twice since his death. Seeing the name plate only hammered home how much she missed him. Wanting to honor his memory was very different to the loneliness she felt when she visited. Her inability to attend more often shamed her and she stood, rooted the spot, her feet like two blocks of concrete.

“Beth?”

She started at the familiar voice behind her. Turning, she plastered a smile on her face as Neville Wilson approached. In full police uniform, he looked as handsome as any of the Wilson men. Speaking of which, she noticed two of his brothers behind him. At a year older, Harry still lived in Bourke’s Ridge, while his younger brother, George, worked as the local realtor in Wills Crossing.

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