If I Were You by Lynn Austin

Author:Lynn Austin [Lynn Austin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
Published: 2020-06-02T00:00:00+00:00

16

USA, 1950

“Bobby and I are not going anywhere, Eve. We’re staying right here.” Audrey didn’t know how she had summoned the courage to say it, but she meant it. She could tell by Eve’s expression that she had surprised her. Yet Eve was the one who had taught Audrey to be courageous.

She turned away from Eve’s angry glare, rocking Bobby gently as she gazed through the wide living room window at the neighborhood where Eve lived. It was an alien world to Audrey, just coming to life on this warm summer morning. Dogs were barking; children were tossing balls and riding bicycles and scooters. The houses were painted different colors but were otherwise identical, built on tidy squares of green grass. The shutters on their windows didn’t seem to do much except serve as decoration. Audrey remembered the shuttered cottages on England’s seacoast where she and Alfie had sailed every summer, their breezy shabbiness and random sizes and shapes. Back home, London had still been rebuilding when Audrey left, even though the war ended five years ago. One didn’t have to venture far to see signs of destruction. There were still shortages of food and clothing in many places.

Eve’s American neighborhood seemed untouched by the war. But while everything looked neat and clean and orderly, it seemed barren. The sparse trees and bushes would take decades to grow. Audrey missed the stateliness of Wellingford Hall, the beauty of its spacious rooms and wooded grounds.

She turned to face Eve again. “Do you have any idea how difficult it was for me to leave England behind and come here? And to face Robert’s family after turning away from them four years ago? Especially after the way Robert died . . .” She paused to swallow the choking grief that still welled up whenever she thought of him. “You know how much Wellingford has always meant to me, and I thought I would always live there. The reason I came to America . . . the reason I’m here is because I had no other choice.”

Eve sighed and passed her hand over her face. “Listen, we can figure out a way for you to get a new start here. There are plenty of nice little towns where you can live. You can have all of the Barretts’ money—”

“I don’t want money! I’ve had money all my life and it never provided what I needed the most. Or what my son needs. We want a family, Eve. The one you’ve stolen from us.”

“You threw it away—!”

“Yes! Because I was grieving! But that still didn’t give you the right to take it!”

They’d reached an impasse. How long were they going to stare at this roadblock before one of them gave in and tore it down? It would have to be Eve. Audrey wasn’t going to budge.

Bobby stirred in her lap. “I don’t feel good, Mummy,” he murmured. He looked pale and listless, his eyes red-rimmed as if he had cried all night. She brushed his dark hair from his eyes.

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