Mended Hearts (New Beginnings Series) by Tepe Mandie

Author:Tepe, Mandie [Tepe, Mandie]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, pdf
Publisher: Mandie Tepe
Published: 2012-02-09T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 11

Shortly after eight thirty the next morning, Gracie stepped out of the San Francisco International Airport, her handbag over her shoulder and a rental car key in her hand. She’d booked the flight in the wee hours that morning after a spur of the moment decision. No one knew of her plans, but she felt compelled to be there. Her precious baby girl, Jolie, was there and she needed to be too.

Two years ago to the day, Gracie had been in serious condition in the hospital. She missed the memorial service her family had held for Jolie. Memorial service was a misnomer, though, since the Laurent family had been robbed of any memories they could have made with little Jolie.

Gracie had never been able to make herself visit the gravesite. She hadn’t felt strong enough—until now. She lay awake the night before thinking about it, and realized it was important to her to go. She didn’t want to let her family know, though. They would insist on meeting her there, or ask her to wait until they could all go together. This was something she needed to do on her own. She couldn’t really say why, except that something broken inside her seemed to be healing and she felt this was an important step to continue that healing. It would help her prove to herself that she could stand on her own two feet. She’d leaned on her family for too long.

Gracie located her rental car in the lot and headed toward the cemetery. She knew exactly where it was, even though she’d never been inside the gates. She passed a large grocery store, then turned around to go inside, looking for a floral department. She left there with a small bouquet of peach miniature roses with baby’s breath, and continued on toward the cemetery.

When she arrived there, she wove her way around the pretty shaded lanes toward the mausoleum where Jolie’s ashes rested with others’ loved ones. It was a wall of white granite, with small bronze plaques checker-boarding the face of it. There were statues of beautiful angels along the top of the wall, watching over those resting there. Gracie parked at the curb and walked over to scan the plaques.

There it was . . . Jolie Laurent Chilton . . . Our Precious Angel. Gracie carefully placed the little roses in the vase attached to her plaque, then backed away until the backs of her legs hit the bench behind her. She dropped to the seat and let the tears come. They were silent tears—not great gulping sobs like she’d expected—but quiet and peaceful tears. She had no idea how long she sat there staring at her daughter’s name on that cold bronze plaque, listening to the birds. After the quiet tears stopped, she sat a while longer, looking around at the pretty setting of the grounds. She couldn’t see or hear the ocean from where she sat, but it must not have been too far away, because there were seagulls dancing across the sky.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.