Hope on the Inside by Marie Bostwick

Author:Marie Bostwick
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2019-01-14T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 26

When she began serving her sentence, Mandy was just twenty-one years old and, in spite of all the things she’d seen and done since her dad had thrown her out of the house at sixteen, still a little green. The first few weeks on the inside had been rough, but as Hope had observed, Mandy was a fast learner.

She learned quickly that the way to survive on the inside was to make herself as inconsequential and unobtrusive as possible. For five years, Mandy kept her head down, minded her own business, and made no enemies. But she hadn’t made any friends either, not until she started taking Hope’s quilting class.

Mandy wasn’t sure what had changed. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that she was so close to release. Or maybe it was because quilting was such a communal activity; she and the other students were always asking one another’s opinions on color combinations, sharing tips on how to sew straighter stitches or rip crooked ones out more quickly, or proudly showing off their finished blocks or quilt tops. It might have been any of those things. Or it might have been something about Hope, the way she made them all feel capable, and trustworthy, and safe.

Whatever the reason, for the first time since she’d passed through the prison gates, Mandy felt like she had friends, people who had her back, people she actually cared about and who, much to her surprise, she would miss when she left.

And that’s why, when Deedee told Mandy that she was going to sing a solo at the sunrise service on Christmas and asked if she would please, please, please come, Mandy said she would.

Cindy, who Mandy actually thought was okay, gave her a firm but silent poke in the shoulder at twenty minutes to five. She’d lain awake for hours the night before, her brain busy trying to answer questions with no clear solutions.

Groggy, her brain fuzzy with the remainders of interrupted sleep, she rolled over and glared at the guard. When Cindy leaned down and whispered, “Merry Christmas,” Mandy remembered why she’d been woken while it was still so dark.

She lay in her bunk for a couple of minutes, blinking, and nearly fell back asleep. But when she heard quiet rustling from a handful of other inmates who were getting dressed in the dark, she got up and did the same. Yawning, Mandy shuffled through the dark dormitory, the valley of bunk beds still mostly filled with slumbering women, and down the hallway.

The cafeteria was dark too, which surprised her. The only light in the room came from a single-pillar candle, set on a tall, silver lamp stand. Except for one near the front of the room, covered with a snowy white cloth and topped by a simple silver cross, the tables had been pushed to one side to make room for the chairs. There were eight rows with twelve chairs in each one, separated by a center aisle.

Nearly every seat was filled, another surprise, and no one spoke a word.

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