As I Breathe (One Breath at a Time: Book 2) by Leilani Bennett Read Free Book Online Page A

kissed was Grandpa, right?”
    “ I kissed him all the time,” she proudly said. Still she seemed very sad.
    “ How did you know Grandpa was the one?”
    “ Brielle, if you feel it in your heart; then you feel it all over your body,” she said, crossing her arms over her heart and then glided her hands down the length of her body to her knees. “Don’t worry you will know when the time is right.”
    “ I wonder who I will marry?”
    “ Do you want me to read your future?” Grandmother asked as she pulled out the deck of tarot cards from beneath the kitchen towel. Reading cards made her happy I’m not sure why my mother was so against it. I glanced around, making sure she wasn’t spying on us like I had on them.
    “ Sure.” I smiled broadly, feeling the rubber band on my braces stretching beyond its capacity. The band popped out of my mouth and landed on the cards. My cheeks flushed with heat.
    Yikes, hope she didn’t see that.
    “Awe, a bit of you christening the deck.” Grandmother smiled and picked up the tiny plastic band—I’m surprised she could see it—and tossed it over her shoulder, and we had a laugh. As she laid the cards out on the table, I watched tentatively; she seemed to know what she was doing.
    “ This card says you will grow to be full of grace and beauty.” Grandmother closed her eyes. “I see you—someone is taking beautiful pictures of you. There are lights shining down on you, and I see a halo above you.” She smiled, opening her eyes. “That’s because you are my little angel. Look at your gorgeous hair.” At that point I was suspicious of her words. Everything she said sounded too good to be true. Grandmother sprung one of my tendrils.
    “ I hate my hair,” I spat out as I flattened it with my palms.
    “ Never say anything negative about yourself or it could come back on you.” My grandmother warned.
    “ Okay. I’ll try not to,” I reluctantly said and sighed.
    “ See this card?” She pointed to the card with a beautiful lady in a robe with men sitting at her feet.
    “ Yes,” I answered straight away, peering hopefully at the bedraggled cards.
    “ When you are older there will be men, lots of them, all around you. You are dancing; I can see you flying through the air.”
    She flipped over another card. “Hmm, not this one,” she whispered as she studied the card. Her eyes flashed to me, and then she quickly smiled, laying down another card. “This is a good one. Many men will try to steal your heart, but you will love only one of them.”
    “That sounds good to me. Is he cute?”
    “ Oh heavens yes, he is most handsome.” She beamed. I was happy too, as much as a tween could be. I listened closely as she went on.
    “ What about my books, Grandma? I want to be a writer when I grow up. Do you see anything about that?” I asked anxiously.
    She smiled fondly. “Well, let’s see what the cards say.”
    I wanted to ask my grandmother what she really thought about the voices that I heard in my head. Instead, I bit my lip and kept the promise I’d made to my mother years before. I also relented because the voices and I had a pact and, so far, it was working out pretty well.
    I felt sorry for Grandmother Katie. My mother sometimes treated her as if she was a tad off her rocker. Who knows…maybe she was. Regardless, I loved her silly predictions. It didn’t change the fact that I didn’t like the conversation I overheard between my grandmother and my mother. At the time, it was hard for me to comprehend some of my mother’s concerns about the voices. To me, she was overly protective. My grandmother called her a worrywart.
    Despite what my mother had said, I felt fine, and I thought I was pretty normal most of the time. Nonetheless, there was a part of me, deep inside, where I couldn’t help but worry. What if my mother was right, and the voices would eventually hurt me somehow? Not on purpose, but accidentally. They seemed to care for me, greatly—actually