We haven’t even opened the windows. It is almost like we’re shuttering ourselves inside this temporary safe haven as if we don’t even exist.
Opening up the screen door, the rusty springs make a loud squeaking noise in the dead of the night. Trying not to make it slam shut, I hold the handle till it shuts softly.
The sounds outside are quiet. Serene. No car sounds, no horns honking, no rushing, just crickets. I settle into the swing I know my grandfather hung to make sure my grandmother had somewhere she could sit and watch the stars.
For thirty-seven years, they did it all together until death came and took my grandfather in his sleep. Ten years later, he came and rescued her from the pain of ALS. Her knitting, cooking, cleaning, gardening, baking all came to a halt the minute her hands shook so badly she couldn’t hold not even a fork to feed herself.
Settling myself into the swing, I fold one foot under me, pushing off with the other one.
“So many stars, Momma.” My brown-eyed girl looks up, pointing to what looks like a million twinkling lights in the sky.
The darkness of the sky makes them sparkle like diamonds. Some are small, some are blinking. All are beautiful. It’s peaceful. It’s everything I remember it to be.
It’s hope, hope for change. Hope for the future. Hope for the end of the nightmare I have been living the last four years. “Look, baby, a shooting star. Make a wish.”
She closes her eyes, and I see her lips move, but no sound comes out of her mouth. I lean down kissing her forehead, making my own wish.
I do this for the next thirty minutes, maybe more, pushing myself on that swing with one foot. Once I know she is asleep in my arms, I get back up to go inside.
The whole time I never realized that the neighbor across the street has been sitting in his living room with the lights off just staring out the window at two broken girls sitting across the street.
Books By Natasha Madison
Books By Natasha Madison
Something Series
Something So Right
Amazon
Something So Perfect
Amazon
Something So Irresistible
Amazon
Tempt Series
Tempt The Boss
Amazon
Tempt The Playboy
Amazon
Tempt The Neighbor – 2018
Heaven & Hell Series
Hell and Back
Amazon
Pieces of Heaven
Amazon
Heaven & Hell Box Set
Amazon
True Love Series
Pefrect Love Story – May 2018
Amazon
Unexpected Love Story – June 2018
Amazon
Broken Love Story – July 2018
COMING
Novellas
Cheeky
Until Brandon
Swoon- June 2018
Madison Rose Books
Only His
Something So Unscripted Page 26