Thirty-One and a Half Regrets by Swank Denise Grover

Author:Swank, Denise Grover [Swank, Denise Grover]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery, Romance, Rose Gardner Mystery #4, Suspense, Paranormal, Contemporary
ISBN: 9781939996114
Amazon: B00HQT266O
Goodreads: 58046477
Publisher: DGS
Published: 2014-01-04T08:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

The room was painted a pale pink, and a white wooden baby bed was pushed against a solid wall. White gauzy curtains hung from above the many windows. Without finding any evidence to prove it, I knew that this had been my room. I’d slept in that bed against the wall. My birth mother had rocked me in that pink and white plaid rocking chair.

I gasped for breath and tried to hold back my sobs.

Proof of my mother’s love filled the room, from the homemade diaper stack hanging from the wall to the painstakingly stitched comforter and bumper pads in the crib. A cross-stitched throw was neatly folded on top of a dresser. I opened it and saw the final proof: Rose Anne Gardner, November 8 was stitched in scrolling cursive.

I sat in the rocking chair clutching the throw in my lap and cried. How different would my life had been if I’d lived with Dora, the woman who’d given me life and obviously love? How different would my father have been if he hadn’t gone back to Momma? Would I have grown up in a house full of love and acceptance, or would Dora have locked me in the closet like Momma did when I began to have visions?

I closed my eyes and imagined growing up in this house, eating dinner in the dining room with a happy family. I let myself cry for the life I’d always wanted and would never have.

I sat up. That wasn’t true. While I might not have had the family I’d wanted growing up, I could have a family of my own someday. I had thought it would happen with Joe, but while that dream was broken, I could still find happiness with someone else.

I closed my eyes and leaned back in the chair, jolting when I heard Mason’s panicked voice shouting my name.

“I’m in here,” I called out.

He appeared in the doorway seconds later, holding a shotgun. The fear in his eyes faded to relief when he saw me. “I couldn’t find you anywhere. Didn’t you hear me calling for you?”

“No, I didn’t hear anything. Why are you carrying a shotgun?”

“I got worried when I couldn’t find you. The deputy is searching over by the barn.” He pulled out his cell phone and called Deputy Miller to tell him he’d found me. When he hung up, he took two steps into the room, pivoting as he studied the décor. “A nursery?”

I held up the blanket and forced a smile. “Mine.”

From the look on his face, I could tell he understood what that meant to me. “Rose. I’m sorry.”

“I’m okay now, but it came as a shock. For some reason I never suspected that I’d lived here. Uncle Earl called it Dora’s family farm, but of course she would have lived here with me. Which means Daddy probably stayed here too for a while.”

“Do you want me to leave you alone for a little while longer?”

“No. I’ve spent too much of my life alone.

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