Page 23 (1/2)

See, she searched his eyes a o with the questions again”

Rather than iain When she came to the end of where she , then cut the needle free

Without looking up fro, just not so I talk about”

She threaded the large needle with a new piece of yarn and sewed along the outside border of another canvas piece Feeling like a slacker, Bodie went back to cutting canvas, but his gaze kept returning to Sarah She see on the snowflake, but he could tell her mind was far away

“I have no memory of my mother other than stories other people have shared,” she confessed “She died when I was born”

Bodie winced “I’m sorry”

“Me, too” She sighed “I wish I’d known her, had memories of her that were ht, what she felt, what her dreas, you know?”

He’d spent his first eighteen years with hisas best as she could for them, but she’d never been an affectionate person Possibly because between her two jobs, she’d been too tired to do more than the basics when at home She’d softened when she’d e, Bodie hadn’t softened with her He’d gotten along well enough with his newfound family He’d been Steve’s shadow as the man had paid him for his work, but Bodie had always known he’d leave Houston, would travel the world and serve his country It hadn’t been hard to leave them behind when the house there had never truly felt like home

Sarah’s es that bound her to her fa he’d experienced

“Your aunt was your dad’s sister?”

Sarah nodded “Aunt Jean was almost twenty years old when my dad was born Apparently, he was an unexpected surprise to randparents and they all, Aunt Jean included, doted on hih her ap, she and my dad were close She was like a second mother to him She certainly was to me, possibly because she and Uncle Roy never had children You’ve seen the photo of them in the foyer”

He knew the one shepicture with a pretty dark-haired wo features

“You’re a lot like your Aunt Jean?”

She sine a better person to e—it’s such a part of her that I couldn’t help but love it” Her eyes grew glassy “I want the sahter, war it It’s been years since Has”

“You’re wrong”