The Mercie Collection by Sharon Srock

Author:Sharon Srock
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sharon Srock
Published: 2017-09-30T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

It took thirty minutes for Penny to work up the nerve to get out of the car once she reached her destination. She spent that time gathering her resolve and looking out over the tidy expanse of green grass. The clumps of colorful flowers dotting the landscape might have said garden to some. All it spoke to her was a soul deep misery. This is a waste of time. She nodded, admitting to herself the validity of the thought. But so much of the last four months...longer if she started counting from the day of that girl's initial accusation... had been wasted on negative and unproductive emotions. What did one more afternoon matter? One thing rang true in her heart. She'd fallen as far as she could afford to. I have to start climbing out of this hole, and I am the only one who can take that first step.

With a final exhale of determination she collected what she needed from the seat beside her and opened the door. Bird song flooded her ears, further reinforcing the sense of a garden. She did her best to block the cheerful sights and sounds. This wasn't a place for cheerful, this was a place for tears. Maybe if God were willing, today it would be the first step in healing.

If God were willing? The thought had tears pressing against her eyes. Her family and Scottlyn Rich weren't the only ones she'd mistreated. God, I've been so wrong. If you're still there for me, please help me do this.

She turned back to the car and tugged four large, helium filled balloons free, careful not to burst them on the door frame. The light spring breeze sent the red orbs twirling and had the attached ribbons tangled before she completed the twenty steps to the bench. Twenty steps...it's amazing how your mind latches onto the mundane when you can't face reality.

Penny sat, the same breeze still twisting the balloons on their ribbons lifted the hair from her neck and sent the brand new leaves on the trees above her head dancing in the sunlight. The shifting patterns of shadow and light reminded Penny of her heart the last few months. Moments of clarity mixed with despair. No more. Please God, no more.

She fastened her eyes on the headstone of her son's grave. If one's life truly was measured by the dash between the dates, then Bradley's life had been too short. To most of the outside world, he'd be remembered as a nameless young man who raped that girl and later died in prison. Penny refused to define him in that way, choosing instead to cling to the countless memories of a mother and her first born.

"You were such a good boy. I remember the day you were born as if it were yesterday. Just one of thousands of babies born into the world that day, nothing special in the grand scheme of things, but when our eyes met for the first time, you changed my life forever.

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