Dearest Josephine by Caroline George

Author:Caroline George
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Published: 2020-12-14T00:00:00+00:00

“Three!” Josephine flung herself down the slope. She tumbled sideways, rolling like a spool of thread, her squeal echoing across the heathland.

“Wait, Josie . . .” Elias crossed his arms and dove headfirst, which seemed a poor decision as the world spun around him. He bounced down the incline, whirling with sensations—dirt in his eyes, bile stinging his throat, and a dizziness so violent, he saw stars.

The hill would flatten soon. He needed only to last a few more seconds. But the pain grew stronger, the knocks and blows more extreme. He cried out and gasped for air. He choked on a mouthful of sod. If this was a fistfight with the mountain, the mountain was surely winning.

Elias went limp. A fuzzy blackness filled his eyelids like ink, and when it subsided, he found himself sprawled at the hill’s base, surrounded by gorse and heather. He groaned, an intense ache pulsing through his body. The fall had bruised him from head to toe. He likely wouldn’t be able to get out of bed the next day, which wasn’t the worst fate. Mrs. Capers would insist on a remedy of white soup, warm blankets, and plenty of rest.

“Josephine?” Elias sat up with a start. He spotted her an arm’s length away, her clothes painted with mud and trampled grass. “Are you all right?”

She clutched her stomach and laughed, tears streaming her cheeks. “No, but I can’t stop smiling. I can’t unfreeze this horrible grin. I want to show just how not all right I am, but my body is too broken . . . or perhaps it’s so tired of pain and sadness, it decides to exist in denial. I don’t know. All I can tell you is I’m not all right. I want to cry.”

Her confession ripped through Elias, freeing the emotions he’d struggled in vain to forget. He wasn’t all right either. He wanted to be whole and undamaged, for other people seemed immune to the pain he felt. Then again, no person had expressed their feelings like Josephine. She put her sufferings—her father’s death, the engagement to Sebastian—into words.

And she wasn’t ashamed to expose them.

Elias crawled to her side, his elbows sinking into mud. “You seemed content—”

“Let me assure you I have been deeply unhappy.” Josephine twisted onto her back and dried her eyes. “Sorry. I’m prone to these dark moods from time to time.”

“You’re the most vibrant person I’ve ever met,” Elias whispered. He placed his hand near hers to feel the prickle of warmth from her skin.

“My father told me that . . . to live, one does not need to be strong and courageous, just awake. He claimed the world is like a deep pool, and the bottom of it is covered with seashells. Some blend into the sand. Others sparkle and shine. And the bright shells—those are the ones people treasure. They prompt joy because they dare reflect light in a gloomy place.” Josephine’s body relaxed into the ground. She turned her hand so her knuckles rested against Elias’s little finger.

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