Secret Sister by Sarah Price

Author:Sarah Price
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Charisma House
Published: 2015-08-13T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

December 2015

FOR THE NEXT week, Grace kept herself tucked away in her home, alternating between reading the Bible and poring through her diaries. She read through the months following Linda’s birth, groaning out loud despite being alone, when she remembered those sleepless nights she went through during the first few months. She smiled when she read the entry about Linda’s first steps, a moment that had delighted her then but, in hindsight, had altered her life. Once Linda began to walk, Grace never had another moment of peace as she was constantly chasing after her.

She remembered her third miscarriage, just twelve months after Linda was born. In the diary, she had indicated the moment with a simple comment regarding feeling ill and taking to bed for a few days. But when Grace read the date, she remembered far too well how the familiar stomach cramps had come, and shortly after, she had recognized the signs of the loss of another life that had been growing inside of her. Once again, she had spared Menno the knowledge of what happened, not wanting to share the emotional pain she felt at the loss.

Setting aside the diaries, Grace leaned her head back against the recliner to rest her eyes. Those little books represented fifty years of life. Her life. It was like reading a familiar story, a story she didn’t want to keep reading because she knew the eventual outcome. Still, she could hardly put them down, even though she knew what came next at every turn of the page.

The year following her third miscarriage, Ivan was born. Soulful, quiet Ivan who even as a toddler spent his time observing nature and people. Grace often wondered at the differences between Linda and Ivan, the former quite headstrong and the latter more reflective. During that time, Anna Mae came to stay with her under the guise of helping with the young children, but Grace knew the truth. She remembered the conversation as if it had been just a few days ago.

“They just go through the motions,” Anna Mae had complained. “No matter how much the bishop counsels them, they cannot accept the fact that he’s gone.”

Grace worried that they’d be shunned, for she knew how strict and conservative their bishop was. However, before that happened, he passed away and a new bishop was chosen by lot from the existing preachers. Fortunately for her parents, the new bishop had focused more on acclimating himself to his role as church leader than on her parents’ continued mourning of Benny’s untimely death.

After four years and one more miscarriage, Susan arrived, and a month earlier than expected. Difficult, willful Susan, who cried with every bout of colic for months on end, rarely slept, walked too early, and screamed far too loud. She tried to emulate her older sister, Linda, but the age difference was too great for theirs to be a tight sisterly bond.

With three small children and only one at school, Grace had her hands full indeed.

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