Such Happiness As This by Laina Villeneuve

Author:Laina Villeneuve
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Romance, LGBT, Contemporary, Fiction
ISBN: 9781594937828
Publisher: Bella Books
Published: 2015-11-27T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Grace woke in her childhood home. Down the hall, she heard Leah bustling from room to room helping Zach and Alison pick out their clothes for the day. She covered her head with her pillow, wondering if they were purposely making so much noise to rouse her from bed. Leah had been shuttling them away from her doorway all morning trying to keep them quiet.

When they descended the stairs, Grace thought she’d go back to sleep, but she couldn’t quiet her brain. She pushed the pillow off her head and studied her sister’s sewing projects. She was ten again, perched on a stool, willing her mother to put the finishing touches on her Holly Hobby quilt. She tossed off her covers and dressed in flannel-lined jeans and a heavy wool sweater to ward off the winter chill.

She stood at one of the dormer windows with her arms wrapped around herself, staring out at the land, remembering the plans her father had for building a riding arena next to his barn. The only one in the family to ride, the barn was his domain. Leah’s husband, Craig, wanted to sell the place. It really was too big for them, but Leah had argued that they could not sell the house with their brother in prison. She had insisted that he deserved the right to say goodbye to their childhood home. Robyn wondered if Craig was pressuring her to sell and whether that discussion was also on this trip’s agenda.

Closing her eyes, she imagined her parents alive and everyone gathered at the house for the Christmas holiday. What would it be like if they were visiting the house instead of living in it? Would Leah’s kids be out in the barn watching Granddad feed the horses, chatting excitedly about wanting a ride? She and Leah would be in the kitchen perched at the bar, warm cups of tea in hand, watching their mother flip her perfect pancakes, letting her take care of them. She leaned into that warm fantasy wanting it to be real instead of this ordinary weekday. Her sister did live here and was downstairs throwing breakfast together for the kids before she took Zach to preschool.

When she opened her eyes she saw her father sweeping the barn door closed. She gasped at the sight, her heart squeezed tight with the desire for what she saw to be true, the tall figure in the forest-green barn coat and brown Carhartt work pants to be her father. Too much hair, her rational brain said, the jacket too short at the waist and cuffs. Tyler turned toward the house and his footsteps pounded in her ears. Her brother alive in their dead father’s clothes and in his space.

She couldn’t go downstairs, but her stomach growled in protest. In an attempt to distract both, she pulled out her laptop to check her email, justifying her actions with the promise she had made to Aaron to check in frequently. She easily fielded questions she should have forwarded to Aaron, quickly losing track of time.

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.