Happy March! Spring is on the way, thought is surely doesn’t feel like it today! Its sunny out, but cold and the wind makes it feel colder. At least I am home now and cozy, as I listen to the Greatest Showman soundtrack. Love the songs and haven’t listened to it in quite awhile. “A Million Dreams” is one of my favorites from the soundtrack. What is one of your dreams? Sit back, take a little time to dream and enjoy the quotes! Have a wonderful day!
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The cold air blew in against her bare arms and legs. Gracie reached for her blanket to pull it over her but she couldn’t get it. Where did it go?
Groggily she opened her eyes and saw that there was no blanket and she wasn’t in her bed! She shivered in ber shorts and t-shirt. Wrapping her arms around herself she sat up and stared in wide eye wonder!
Whatever was she doing on a train and how did she get here? The floor creaked as Gracie walked towards the door of the train, Why were there rose petals on the floor? What were cardboard signs doing on the seats? There were names of places on them, and Gracie had been to all the places on her cross country train trip, but… things just didn’t make sense.
She hoped that fresh air would help to clear her head so that she could piece together what happened. First though she had to get out of this tunnel. Strangely she noticed lots of different flower petals in the tunnel too, like on the train.
Memories of last night started vaguely coming to her mind as she kept walking.
She had been enjoying a nice quiet night at home watching Grey’s Anatomy and dreaming of her boyfriend. They had been dating for a year now and she was walking on clouds most of the time!
Dreaming of becoming a Mrs. was something she did frequently. Oh, it had been the best decision of her life to take a train across the country for a sight seeing trip. It turned out that the best sight of all was the handsome guy across the aisle.
She found herself smiling at the memory of meeting Austin and the fun they had on that train trip. But she shook her head, she had to concentrate on last night.
Her friends had surprised her with an impromptu sleepover, they had brought food and drinks and ended up having a fun-filled night of conversation and laughter.
That was all she remembered and it still didn’t explain why she was on this old, abandoned train. Fortunately she only had a few steps to go until she was out of the tunnel, she saw the light ahead.
Stepping out into the sunlight she screamed as someone grabbed her from behind.
“About time you wake up, beautiful!”
Gracie whirled around looking at her captor. “Austin! What are you…”
Her hand covered her mouth and tears stung her eyes as she watched Austin getting down on one knee.
Her heart was ready to burst with happiness. The roses and other flowers strewn in the tunnel, the names of places on the cardboard signs, it all made sense now!
Gracie felt like she was floating in the air as she wrapped her arms around Austin’s neck. Kissing him passionately she only stopped to take a breath and say, “Yes, A thousand times Yes!”
Dancing had always been a passion of Darcy’s. Her Mom said she danced when she was inside of her. Always moving around, keeping her from sleeping at night.
Darcy had dreamed of someday dancing on Broadway. She had watched the NutCracker and Cats several times and was always mesmerized by the performances.
Her Dad often called her his “little flower” and had come to every recital, beaming with pride.
Darcy was warmed by her parent’s approval and encouragement. With them supporting her she felt like her dreams were possible, that she could reach for the stars and touch the moon.
She never saw it. The speeding truck had come out of nowhere and hit her head on. She spent a month in a coma and it had been a grueling, heartbreaking, 2 steps forward, 1 step back, road to recovery! But she did it and she was so thankful to be alive. At least now she was, it hadn’t always been that way.
When she learned that she would never walk again she was devastated! Her dreams that had seemed within reach were now unattainable. Everything had changed in one blinding instant.
She watched her favorite ballet performances with tears streaming down her face and her heart screaming the phrase, “Why Me?” She thought her life was over, but in a way it was just beginning.
It wasn’t turning out anything like she had expected but she realized that there were other things she could do.
Spending hours in her room moping, she started drawing one day. Gradually she began enjoying it more and more. Surprising herself by the decent job she did. She was eager now to try her hand at painting. Making a blank canvas come to life excited her.
Her parent’s eyes glistened with tears as they watched the light come back into Darcy’s life.
One night her Dad walked into her room and saw the latest drawing she had completed. He put his arms on her shoulders and kissed the top of her head. “My little flower is blooming once again!”
Yes, she was, thought Darcy and once again she could reach for the stars and try to touch the moon.
The power of suggestion is strong … all I did was say that I was thirsty for a milkshake … my friend said, “Let’s go to Rax.” … we did … it was very good! (my friend still blames me for us getting caught. Yes, we may have been in class over 20 years ago. )
50 degrees the other day. Spring fever has hit!
Music to the ears: When your children say to each other, “We need to hang out sometime.”
Every Monday around 1pm she could count on seeing him. She looked at the clock, it was 5 minutes til 1.
She heard the sound of a wagon, looking out the window she saw that it was Antonio. Anxiously she waited for him to come to the window. She took a deep breath telling herself to stand strong and be firm. “Lynette you can do this!” she said outloud, trying to believe it.
Lynette was telling him No this time. She could not keep buying all the little trinkets he sold from his wagon. Her house was full of them. An egg maker, all kinds of different shaped tins, a jewelry box, rolling pins, cookie cutters, little lamps and more.
He would sweet talk her each time into buying something, but she would be firm this time. Her hands grew sweaty as she watched him walking towards her window.
“Hello, my beautiful lady!” he bowed down. taking her right hand, to kiss it. Then he gave her a red rose and started quoting Shakespeare.
Lynette’s cheeks flushed but she looked directly into his hazel eyes and said, “Not today Antonio, I can’t keep buying from you every week. My kitchen is full of gadgets! You probably charm all the ladies out of their money, don’t you!”
Antonio put his hand on his heart. “Oh, you hurt Antonio with your words. There is no lady fairer than you!”
Lynette rolled her eyes but she kept hold of his hand.
“Antonio will show you how generous he is. Let me give you a gift. I will be right back.” Letting go of her hand he walked to his wagon and came back carrying a tiny little box, with a bow on top.
“Here m’lady, wrapped with a bow just for you, and its Free! I also have 2 decorative jars, just think of what you could put in them.”
“The tiny gift wrapped box is all I want, thank you!”
“But the jars come with the box. You buy the jars you get the box for free.” Antonio said with a dazzling smile.
Oh, Lynette really did wonder what was in the cute gift wrapped box with a pink bow. She sighed, “Ok Antonio, I will buy the 2 jars.”
Antonio grabbed her hand, planting another kiss on it. “You have made me so happy! Have another rose.” He tenderly put one in her hair behind her ear.
Giving her the 2 jars and the tiny box he bid her adieu and traveled back down the dusty road.
Lynette sat down at the kitchen table staring at the gift wrapped box. What treasure did it hold? Perhaps a beautiful broach. She carefully unwrapped it and peered inside.
Disappointment was written all over her face as she pulled the object out. A shiny cowbell! What was she supposed to do with that! She threw it in her kitchen drawer, oh just wait til Antonio came back next week, she had a gift to give him!
The following story is continued from Monday’s post, Love without Words . I get inspirations from lots of different things for my stories. Sometimes by pictures, which is how I wrote Monday’s post and sometimes by suggestions made by my “followers”. Thank you to some of my “followers”, who inspired some of the ideas weaved into the following story.
A few weeks has passed and Lawrence was still scratching his head. feeling very perplexed! One minute he was practicing his magic show with his white bunnies and the next minute they were all gone and they hadn’t returned. Where did they vanish to? It had taken him a long time to train those bunnies, he was greatly fond of them and he missed them. They were his pets. Each day he awakened with the hope that maybe today would be the day that they returned, but each night he felt the sting of disappointment. His house felt emptier without the cute balls of white fluff running around.
He guessed that he never should have gone to the park to practice, but he thought he would let his bunnies run around some in the thick emerald green grass. He never dreamed that they would disappear into thin air. It was no magic trick of his this time, they were really gone. Lawrence had lost his bunnies and he didn’t know where to find them.
“You know that really wasn’t nice of us to leave Lawrence like we did?” said Toffee.
“Well how exactly were we going to explain to him that we had to leave for a temporary time? He would have fainted as soon as we spoke one word, and he surely wouldn’t believe that we are Easter bunnies. That needed to leave to get all the eggs ready for Easter.” replied Caramel, the head bunny.
The other bunnies murmured in agreement. “I still feel sorry for him though”, said Toffee, the tender hearted bunny.
Caramel spoke up, “Well you have to stop thinking of Lawrence right now, for we have another problem. We have Molly to think about now. Whose bright idea was it to work our magic in having us come to her aid? We are supposed to be in the Honey Breeze Woods right now working on eggs.”
No one spoke up, and then Toffee felt everyone’s eyes on her. “I couldn’t let her be all alone! She had been abandoned, she didn’t have anyone. The vision came to me of the car dropping her off by the side of the road, and I knew we had to do something.”
The bunnies were silent, they all knew that Toffee had a special gift of seeing visions at times, and they couldn’t deny that Molly was a sweet, little girl.
Finally Caramel spoke up, “I understand, and you were right to make the choice that you did, but what do we do now? She loves us, so she would be sad if we leave, but she does seem to be in good hands with Detective Kimberly.
Before anyone could say a word, Molly and Kimberly walked into Molly’s bedroom. It was time for her nap. The bunnies all gathered around her on her bed and they knew that for now they had to be quiet. They would talk later, when the humans weren’t listening.
Kimberly grabbed a book and went to sit down for a little bit of quiet time, but after a few chapters she closed it. She couldn’t keep her mind from wondering about Molly. Kimberly had contacted Jacob, to help her find where Molly might have come from, but so far he wasn’t having any luck either. It was like she had just dropped out of the sky. Kimberly wondered more and more if she had been abandoned due to not talking. That maybe she really couldn’t talk and that sadly her parents didn’t want her. She hated to think that, but she knew that it was possible. Some people had no heart! It made her sad for Molly but it also gave her hope that if that was true, that Kimberly could adopt her. Each day that went by she found herself secretly starting to hope that they didn’t find who Molly belonged too. Kimberly wanted Molly as her daughter. A daughter that she thought she would never have.
Kimberly looked out the window as she thought about the past years, and what had happened in her life. The memory of that fateful day from 3 years ago came back to her. The day she received the horrible news from her Doctor, that she would never be able to have children of her own. Where once she had dreamed of marriage she didn’t anymore. She became more isolated, afraid to date, and fall in love, only to be possibly dumped by the guy when he would find out that she couldn’t have children. Yes, she could adopt and she would be open to that, but she knew that not everyone felt the same about adoption. She didn’t want to risk the battle about it with a guy. So she closed herself off to long term relationships, and was doing pretty good on her own. That is, until sweet Molly came along. Having Molly had opened up a part of her heart that had been closed off and Kimberly didn’t want to lock it up again.
Hearing the door open Kimberly looked down the hall. Molly was coming out of her room holding her blanket in one hand and rubbing her eyes with her tiny little fist. Kimberly’s heart melted at the sight of the sleepy-eyed girl with her tousled hair. Opening up her arms, Molly came and crawled up on Kimberly’s lap and they snuggled for a bit.
The phone rang and Kimberly picked it up, it was Jacob. Kimberly’s heart gave a little lurch, did he have news?
“Hi Kimberly! I still don’t have any news for you but I was wondering if you and Molly would like to join me for some pizza and ice cream tonight?”
Kimberly smiled as her heart relaxed. It had been good to renew her acquaintance with Jacob again. He was becoming a good friend.
“Sure, sounds great, what time?” she replied.
“I will pick you girls up at 6 in my pumpkin carriage, but we have to be back by midnight.”
Kimberly laughed. “I think it will be way past a little girl’s bedtime by midnight. We will see you at 6.” she said and they talked a little more and then both said goodbye.
Molly crawled off Kimberly’s lap and started getting out some of her toys from the toy chest. Kimberly watched her and tried to tell herself to breathe and just take one day at a time, but she prayed that one day Molly would be her little girl.
Once Kimberly and Molly had left the house the bunnies started talking again. “I say we do it now.” said Strawberry.
“But she will be so sad,” said Toffee.
Carmel looked at Toffee, “I know, but we really need to get to the woods for think of how many little girls and boys will be disappointed if we don’t get their eggs to them in time.”
Toffee hung her head, she knew Carmel was right. “Okay, but I will miss her.” she replied, with a soft voice.
Months passed and Kimberly’s heart was full. They had tried very hard to locate Molly’s parents, but no one had been found. A date was set in court now for Kimberly to legally adopt Molly and she could not be happier. Molly still didn’t talk, but Kimberly had her seeing a speech therapist to see if that would help at all. Molly was also now under the care of a well recommended pediatrician. He was so good with Molly and Kimberly was glad she had found him.
Molly sat on her bed petting her white bunny. Oh how she loved her. She had been really sad when all her bunnies had disappeared. They had come home to their front door open and the bunnies gone. Molly was devastated and then she saw her. One little white bunny was buried under the covers on Molly’s bed. Molly threw the covers off of her and the bunny came right to her. She was so happy and every night she slept with her little arm around her precious bunny.
Lawrence was in the park once again with his bunnies. He was still in shock at how they had just showed up one day. He had been sitting on the park bench wondering what he would do now. He decided that maybe he would stop being a magician for he didn’t have the heart to train more bunnies and then suddenly his bunnies were smack dab in front of him! All of them! Well, he thought it was all of them, after counting he realized one was missing. That was okay though, he was beyond grateful that the rest were back.
They had all seemed happy to see Lawrence again and there were many snuggles given to each bunny. His house was a happy place again as they ran around. Now he was letting them run in the park once more, enjoying the clear blue skies on a warm, spring day. He was watching them scamper and hop around on the grass when something in the grass caught his eye. It looked like it was something silver, he thought, while walking over to it. He picked it up. What was a silver cowbell doing in a park? Hmmm … he stuck it in his pocket, wondering if perhaps there was a way that he could incorporate it into his magic show. One just never knew what you could do with a bell.
There is something nice about your kids growing up. They don’t cry anymore and pull on your leg when you leave the house. Now you hear, “Drive safe Mom, I want to see you tonight.” I think they may have heard that last line a few times before.
If you are on the road today, do be safe! Hopefully you can find the time today for a coffee break and exercise your smile with the following quotes.
Molly loved bunnies. She was in her own little bubble of joy when surrounded by them. Detective Willis watched her with the bunnies and wondered what secrets she held. Would she break her silence and talk? Could she talk? She called her Molly because it was written on the tag in the girl’s dress. The dress she had been wearing when Kimberly had found her. She thought back to 3 weeks ago when Molly had come into her life.
The last thing Kimberley Willis had ever expected to find was an abandoned little girl. She was headed home one night and the little girl on the side of the country road caught her attention. What was she doing sitting with bunnies all alone? There had not been any houses nearby. Kimberly had tried to talk to her, but the girl wouldn’t say a word, she just kept cuddling the bunnies. She couldn’t just leave her out here alone so she explained to the little girl how she wanted to help her find her home. She asked if she would go with her in her car and the little girl only stared at her as she talked. Did she understand? Kimberly put out her hand and the little girl took it, still snuggling the one bunny against her, with her one arm.
Molly had started to walk with her when they headed for the car but then she abruptly stopped. She wouldn’t budge. Kimberly sighed, Molly was looking back at the other bunnies. Apparently if she wanted Molly to get in the car with her she would need to bring along all the bunnies! At least they were tame and didn’t scratch at all when Kimberly picked them up to carry them to the car. The girl smiled from ear to ear as she willingly got in the car, once all the bunnies were in there.
Kimberly had been searching through missing children records for the past 3 weeks now and nothing had turned up. No one fit Molly’s description. It appeared that no one was looking for her, but how could that be? She was such a sweet child.
Molly should have gone directly to Foster Care, that was proper protocol, but Kimberly couldn’t let her go. She was glad she had saved up vacation days, for she used them now to stay with Molly. She was a pleasant child to have around. She obeyed Kimberly when she asked her to do things and she listened with great interest when Kimberly would read stories to her. Kimberly was greatly hoping that as time went by that she would grow more comfortable and perhaps start to talk.
Having tucked Molly into bed, and making sure all the bunnies were in their hutch, Kimberly sat down at the kitchen table, eating some chips and salsa, as she thought about how her life had taken a complete 360 degree turn! She had lived alone for the past couple years and had adapted to it. Enjoyed the peace, the only pets she had were fish. After a stressful day at the office she would come home and watch them swim around. It was relaxing. She did pretty much anything she wanted to, that was her life.
Now she had bunnies that loved to run everywhere and how the hair flew, but they were adorable. She now was reading fairytales, instead of her romance novels, and making lots of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. She was cleaning up spilled milk and making chocolate chip pancakes, instead of going out for nights of wine and caviar. Life had changed, but Kimberly found herself not minding a bit.
One of the most precious things about having Molly was the sound of her laughter. The first week Kimberly didn’t hear it. Molly had been very shy, and Kimberly couldn’t blame her. She didn’t try to overwhelm Molly. The last thing she wanted to do was scare the girl. She was kind to her and let Molly lead. She still remembered the emotion her heart felt when for the first time Molly gave her a hug. She was so glad that Molly was warming up to her.
Molly did really enjoy story time. It was then that she seemed to be really content, so Kimberly read a lot. One night while Kimberly was reading to her Molly started giggling at the funny voice Kimberly made pretending to be the giant in Jack and the Beanstalk. It was like music to Kimberly’s ears, as the little girl’s eyes shined bright. From then on Kimberly made sure to do different voices when reading and she was always rewarded with laughter. Once she tickled her belly a little and that made Molly laugh even harder. Oh, story time before bed had become so special, with cuddles, tickles and laughter.
Kimberly walked to Molly’s bedroom, and peeked in at the sleeping child and she knew what she had to do. Tomorrow she would talk with Peter, her lawyer friend and start filling out paperwork to apply for temporary custody of Molly. She would keep looking for any clues of where Molly came from, her heart ached for a family out there that may be looking for her. Was it possible that she had just been abandoned? How could anyone do that to a little child? It didn’t appear that she had been out on her own for too long. How would she have survived the cold nights? Where had the bunnies come from? So many questions.
Kimberly suddenly thought of an old acquaintance, why hadn’t she thought of him before. He might be the perfect answer. She would call Jacob tomorrow, he was a Private Investigator and from what she knew, he was a pretty good one! Who knew what he may be able to find out. A lot of uncertainty laid ahead as to what may happen with Molly, but Kimberly was sure of one thing. While looking, and trying to solve this mystery, she would do all she could to make sure that Molly knew she was loved.
I thought that I would share some cute animal pictures again to close out your weekend. One doesn’t grow tired of animal pictures, right? Thanks to Pinterest I was able to find some. I think these pictures are in need of some clever captions with them and I know I have clever followers, so feel free to leave some captions in the comments below. But if your thinker isn’t thinking, you are welcome to just enjoy the pictures!
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When I wrote The Inheritance! I didn’t plan on it turning into a 5 part series! I hope you enjoyed it and that you like the conclusion today. As always, thanks for taking the time to read my posts and for your comments. I do appreciate them!
Amanda opened up her Mom’s cedar chest and wondered where to start. Did she just pick up the first journal on the stack? Were they in a certain order? Then she asked herself again whether she was sure she wanted to read them. Were there deep secrets hidden in the pages?
She pulled out the one with the moon on it. Amanda remembered her Mom sitting by her bedroom window at night looking out at the moon. Many times Amanda had crept into her Mom’s room, when her Mom thought she was asleep. She sat by the door watching her Mom write while sitting by the window. She often saw her put her pen down and look out the window for a little before picking it back up and writing again. Would these journals give her a glimpse into her Mom’s late night thoughts?
It had only been a few days since Amanda had returned home. She hated to leave Lisette and her beautiful Inn, but she was eager to travel and meet the Grandparents that she hadn’t seen in such a long time. To see the amazing castle that they were leaving to her. It still all felt like a dream! Why hadn’t her Mom ever taken her back to see her Grandparents? What had happened?
Going into her kitchen she poured herself a hot Chocolate Cherry Latte. She was so glad that Cara had given some of the special mix when they visited Bittersweet Creek. It was one of the best latte’s she had ever had. Holding the cup she settled herself down into her overstuffed chair, picked up her Mom’s journal and began to read.
A few hours later Amanda was wiping tears from her eyes. She was on the 4th journal and her heart was full. Her heart ached for her Mom. How she wished that she would be right here with her now and that they could talk about her Mom’s life. All the details that Amanda was learning in the pages of her journals. She needed to take this one journal with her to her grandparents. It would make them cry, but they needed to see their daughter’s words of love to them. Her words of apology. Words that she had planned on telling them in person, but the car accident had tragically prevented that.
Now Amanda was seeing things more clearly. A few months before she died her Mom had told her that they would soon be leaving for a long overdue visit to a certain place that she couldn’t wait to show Amanda. Amanda had asked where they were going, but her Mom had only smiled and said in time, she would explain. Then she got a wistful look in her eye and a pang of regret crossed her face while looking at Amanda. She reached out and brushed a strand of Amanda’s hair out of her amber eyes. “Don’t be headstrong like your Mama dear, I have made many mistakes, and I only hope that I haven’t waited too long to correct them!”
Her Mom may have made many mistakes in her past, but she had been a great Mom. Of course no Mom was perfect and they did have their share of arguments, but she knew her Mom’s heart. Reading through her Mom’s apology to her parents she hoped that they would see through to her Mom’s heart as well and be assured that she had never stopped loving them.
Amanda laughed and cried some more as she continued reading. Reading memories from the past of when Amanda was young and when she lived close to her Grandparents and went on adventures with him. Amanda had memories of riding a horse when she was little with a man leading the horse, she now knew that man had been her Grandpa. She remembered a man holding her up high to pick apples from a tree and them sitting and eating them together, while he told funny stories, making her laugh. She had forgotten all about those memories, but they came to light now as she read.
It was getting late and Amanda was getting stiff from having been in the same position for the past couple hours. She had to put the journals away for the night and get some sleep. Not all her questions had been answered, but many had and she loved getting a peek into her Mom’s life. She felt closer to her as she read, and her cheeks were still wet from tears. Tears of joy from learning more about her grandparents and tears of sadness. She was so very thankful for her Mom’s journals. Amanda understood her now in a way she never had before.
She walked back into her bedroom and put them all back in her Mom’s cedar chest. Then she grabbed her own journal from her night stand, walked over to her glider rocker by the window and began to write. Writing from her heart, and at times putting her pen down, as she looked out the window at the crescent moon.
Many weeks had passed and once again she found herself sitting by a window at night with her journal in her lap. Blank pages waiting to be written upon. She picked up her pen and then heard the knock on her bedroom door.
“Come in!” Amanda said.
Her grandmother entered her room and stood there smiling at her. “Your Mom used to sit by that very window, writing through the night. She also used to climb out that window!”
Amanda laughed. “Don’t worry Grandma, I have no intentions of climbing out the window, and I don’t think any Romeo is going to come whisk me away!”
“I sure hope not! I just found you, I am not ready to let you go yet!”
Putting down her journal, Amanda rose from her chair and walked over to her Grandma, giving her a warm hug. “I am not saying that I will stay here, but I promise that I will keep in touch, wherever I go.”
They held onto each other for a little while and then her Grandma let go and put her hand on Amanda’s cheek. With a twinkle in her eye she said, “Are you thinking of returning to Bittersweet Creek, visiting a certain coffee shop?”
“I am sure Cara would be glad to see me again, and they do have very good coffee, not to mention their homemade pies.” Amanda replied.
“You have said that, and I do believe that you also mentioned the name Mason a few times.”
“Well he is the owner of the diner, that is all.”
“Hmmm…” her grandmother said, and with a light kiss on Amanda’s forehead she walked out the door, closing it softly behind her.
Amanda’s face felt a little warm, but she couldn’t help and smile at her Grandmother’s remark. Sitting back down, she picked up her journal and began to write.
