Page 38 (1/1)

Prologue

Six years before

Closing her eyes, Courtney leaned back in the bathtub and searched for a single hint of happiness When she cah of defeat Picking up a handful of bubbles, she let theers

An eighteenth birthday was supposed to be fun, exciting, happy

For her, the day held none of those things Since she'd oal had been to keep breathing It wasn't as if she was suicidal, because she wasn't All she wanted was for tiin to fade

She didn't care if her life was boring Her heart was so full of anguish that it didn't matter to her that she had no close friends nearby Her sole purpose in life was to keep living,forward, day bylittleher life Still, the tiniest glimmer of hope reain, that she'd find love and happiness, that finally, she'd no longer be so alone

She inhaled deeply and held the air in her lungs Closing her eyes, she sank underneath the water and began to count How long could she hold her breath? Did it even et better? When would the pain lessen and the shock begin to recede?

Losing one's parents at such an early age couldn't be anything less than devastating, but surely after alun to look better? Of course, she kneasn't that simple She hadn't only lost her parents; she'd been separated from her friends as well, because the Rules lived in St Louis, far, far away from her home state of Florida And she'd had no choice but to leave Florida; she had no one else and nowhere to go Neither of her parents had had siblings, and Courtney had been born so late in their lives that her grandparents were gone as well She'd been left with no relatives at allno siblings, no aunts, no uncles, no cousinsnothing

She surged to the top of the water and sat up, taking a deep breath, forcing oxygen into her starved lungs

Everyone here had been so nice to her Mrs Rule had been her odmother, and after the accident, she'd taken Courtney in without soThis is your home now and it alill be My family is your family noant you to know that"

"What should I call you?" Courtney reh a haze of pain

A look of extreme sympathy had touched the older woman's features as she'd wrapped her arms around Courtney "I'd offer to let you call me mother, but we both know Jenny was your mother and I can't ever take her place, nor would I want to Do you want to call me Justine?"

"Okay"

"Even though she was a few years older than me, your mom wasto contain her own pain, looking as if it took everything she had not to cry She'd cleared her throat and continued quietly, "I loved her like a sister We'll ether, shall we?"

Courtney knew it hadn't been as easy on her godmother as the woman had let on; her own husband had died suddenly of a heart attack, only six months before, and Courtney knew that he'd been the love of Justine's life Courtney tried not to think of herself as a therapeutic pet project for her new guardian, because that wasn't fair to Justine, but sometimes, that's how she felt

All of Justine's children had already been grown and out of the house when Courtney came to live with her All three of her sons, as well as her youngest, Erin, as only a little over a year older than Courtney, but who'd already left for college by the time Courtney came to St Louis She visited a lot on the weekends and was nice to Courtney when she saw her It was as if the other girl was glad souilty for leaving and going away to college when herthe loss of her husband so intensely

Courtney admitted that Erin eet; every tiirl would try to put her at ease and make her feel as if she'd actually joined their faly called her 'little sister', as if they shared a deeper connection than they really did