It was all unfair. Life was so unfair, and this not how things should be. But there she lay alone, little Bethany Ryder, forever a child, entombed in the earth like so much forgotten pocket change. Like a quarter folded in white paper and tucked into her dad’s wallet for remembrance.
Don’t remember. Live. What good are thoughts, dreams, and visions without the tangible around you? It was a heart palpable that mattered, a visible, corporeal being which ran and skipped and hopped. A little girl with blonde curls and her daddy’s eyes filled with laughter, swinging through the air.
A figure at her side also knelt in the grass. Mama Winters wrapped her arms around Rylie’s slumped body and pulled her in. Rylie wept there, her cheek dampening on the old woman’s chest, and breathed in a floral bouquet emanating from her skin.
“There, there, child. It’s time you let that out. That sweet baby gone on to be with Jesus.”
Rylie hauled herself back, dashing at moist patches beneath her eyes. “With Jesus?” she spat. “She’s here. Dead in the ground.”
“No, Rylie, she’s not. She’s dancin’ in the fields of heaven, surrounded by God’s light.”
Rylie backpedaled, pulling away. “She isn’t, and I’m tired of everyone tellin’ me she is. Like she’s okay up there without her mama. I’m her mama. Me.” Her voice was strident at the end.
Mama Winter’s eyes became soft, her pupils flecking gold. “Ain’t nobody takin’ that away from you,” she said. “She’s your daughter just the same, but God didn’t want her to fade away. She’s not a memory to Him, but the perfect creation of two people who loved one another, though maybe they didn’t do things right.”
Don’t remember. Live. What good are thoughts, dreams, and visions without the tangible around you? It was a heart palpable that mattered, a visible, corporeal being which ran and skipped and hopped. A little girl with blonde curls and her daddy’s eyes filled with laughter, swinging through the air.
A figure at her side also knelt in the grass. Mama Winters wrapped her arms around Rylie’s slumped body and pulled her in. Rylie wept there, her cheek dampening on the old woman’s chest, and breathed in a floral bouquet emanating from her skin.
“There, there, child. It’s time you let that out. That sweet baby gone on to be with Jesus.”
Rylie hauled herself back, dashing at moist patches beneath her eyes. “With Jesus?” she spat. “She’s here. Dead in the ground.”
“No, Rylie, she’s not. She’s dancin’ in the fields of heaven, surrounded by God’s light.”
Rylie backpedaled, pulling away. “She isn’t, and I’m tired of everyone tellin’ me she is. Like she’s okay up there without her mama. I’m her mama. Me.” Her voice was strident at the end.
Mama Winter’s eyes became soft, her pupils flecking gold. “Ain’t nobody takin’ that away from you,” she said. “She’s your daughter just the same, but God didn’t want her to fade away. She’s not a memory to Him, but the perfect creation of two people who loved one another, though maybe they didn’t do things right.”
✿
“I’ve always loved you, Colton Ryder, but I’m not sure that’s enough. I hate this town. I hate these memories. And just because you kiss me and my mind blanks doesn’t mean I can overcome them, doesn’t mean I can simply pick up my life as it is and return to Richland. All I have here is turmoil, and all I want to do is forget.”
Rylie Shepherd’s come home to Richland, a town she never thought to see again. To a flood of bad memories and broken dreams. A family splintered and reassembled by death. To pain and heartache and years of poverty and loss.
To Colton Ryder, town war hero, old boyfriend, resurrected man. But in dying, he’s changed, from the inside, he says, and this power he’s found is strong enough to heal all that’s between them and recreate the love they had.
Yet maybe it can’t. Maybe his presence will only further wounds that never healed in the first place, and maybe afterward all she’ll have is a hole in her heart the shape of a baby that died in her arms.
From best-selling author, SUZANNE D. WILLIAMS, a touching story of hearts mended through the power of God’s love.
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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com
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