Shared Skies by Josephine O Brien Read Free Book Online

arms,
and kissed her forehead. Blue eyes of an intensity to match her own
looked at her with love and pride.
    “ I can’t bear to let you
go, but I’d better go and see these guys out. I’ll leave you to
your Gran for a moment.” He strode out the door with the police
officers.
    Kaley approached slowly, shaking her head.
“I can’t believe it, you’re so like her and yet, I can see your
father too. Oh Gaiah my sweet; it seemed so long and it’s been so
hard to stay away. It broke our hearts. We have so much to talk
about.” She cupped Gaiah’s face in her hands and stared at her.
    Gaiah felt something break open inside her,
and she gasped as if she’d been holding her breath for ten years
and now she could breathe again.
    “ Oh Gran,” she wailed and threw herself into the waiting
arms. She sobbed and cried as she hadn’t done for years. Kaley held
her and caressed her hair. Somehow a wad of tissues found its way
into her hand. Gaiah felt Alasdair come back and put his arms
around the two of them. Slowly, she hiccupped to a halt; there were
no more tears, just a sense of peace.
    The three of them were using tissues now,
unashamedly blowing noses and wiping away tears of happiness. She
felt healed and whole, being back with them. There was so much
talking to be done, so many questions to be asked and answered but
no more crying. The receptionist, who had watched this emotional
reunion, smiled and offered more tissues, as she handed out the key
card to Gaiah’s room
    “ Darling Gaiah, I can’t
believe you’re really here,” said Kaley as she pressed the button
for the lift. The three of them held hands in silence as the lift
purred them up to the third floor and, in the dimmed light of the
elegant corridor, her grandmother handed Gaiah a room card.“You’re
safe, you’re back with us and you’re also completely exhausted, no
talking tonight–just sleep. We’re right here in the room next to
you.”
    Gaiah nodded, her grandmother was right.
Although her brain was a holding pattern of indignant questions she
couldn’t muster the energy to utter them. She hugged them both and
gratefully closed the door behind her as she stepped into her room.
She barely looked around it, noticed only that it was peach. Peach
coloured, warm, and comfortable.
    She sank back on the
wonderfully yielding bed. What an
exhausting, awful, bizarre day. And my grandparents, I can’t
believe it. But there’s no question, they feel so familiar, they
really, truly are my grandparents. Where in God’s name have they
been until now? It’s extraordinary. She
briefly considered ringing her father to let him know she was okay,
but knew she was just too wiped to deal with it. There was so much
to think about. She was looking forward to a long, hot shower but
her head slowly sank back into the pillow, the mobile slid out of
her hand, and the warmth of the room engulfed her.

Chapter Four
     
    A series of loud raps on the door brought
Gaiah groggily to her feet in bright sunlight. Somehow, two minutes
of resting her eyes had become a whole night’s sleep, slumped
sideways against her pillow. She stretched and tried to work a
cramp out of her neck and shoulders as she went to open the
door.
    Her grandmother’s face gave her an almost
physical jolt. Last night, in fact all of yesterday, had been so
strange she wouldn't have been surprised to find she’d hallucinated
most of it, especially the grandparent part. Kaley was brisk.
Wrapped in one of the hotel’s thick, white robes, she kissed Gaiah.
“It’s eight thirty, see you in the breakfast room as soon as we’re
all showered.” She disappeared back through the open door of her
bedroom, her hair, in a thick plait, reached to her waist.
    Gaiah's brain was in
overdrive. It is them. How can it be?
Where were they? What am I going to say? What are they going to
say? She found it hard to think at all
with so many questions were bouncing around in her head. A shower
cap was all she took