The January Wish by Juliet Madison Read Free Book Online

was glad her parents had chosen it for her.
    ‘So your parents…um,’ Sylvia said, searching her overflowing mind for the right words.
    ‘Were they good to me?’ Grace interjected.
    ‘Well, yes, I guess that’s what I’m trying to ask!’ Sylvia tried to hide her awkwardness by taking a sip of water.
    Grace’s eyes became shiny, and she blinked a few times. ‘They were. They are. I mean…’ Now Grace was the one taking a sip of water and looking awkward. ‘I have a wonderful father, and I had a wonderful mother.’
    Had? Sylvia stopped chewing momentarily.
    ‘My mum died last year,’ Grace explained, fiddling with the napkin on her lap. ‘She’d had heart problems for a few years, and well, they eventually caught up with her.’ She wiped at the corners of her eyes with the napkin, blinking tears away.
    Sylvia’s heart dropped into her stomach with a big plop. ‘Grace, I’m so sorry.’ Instinctively she touched Grace’s hand, which was holding a spoon loaded with risotto. ‘I don’t know what to say. I can’t imagine what that must have been like— is like, for you.’
    ‘It’s okay, things are getting better slowly, and Dad is my rock. He’s always kept the family together. We’ve been through a lot, but we’re a strong bunch, and I know my mum would have wanted me to get on with life and make the most of it,’ Grace said.
    My mum . Strange to hear your daughter calling someone else ‘Mum’.
    ‘Well, I’m glad you have a supportive father in your life, and I’m sure you have many special memories of your mum.’ Sylvia swallowed the lump that was becoming a permanent resident in her throat.
    ‘I do. In fact, I’m making an album to give to Dad at Christmas.’ Grace shuffled in her seat and rounded her shoulders. ‘I know we’ve had Christmas barely a month ago, but at the next one I want to give Dad something special to remember Mum by. So, I’m putting together an album of photographs and memories. The first half will be of happy times when Mum was alive, the second half I’m going to fill with new memories I’ll be creating this year. Kinda like, to show Mum what I’m doing now, to show her that I’m making the most of my life.’ Grace took that moment to whip out her phone, and took a picture of the restaurant. ‘No time like the present!’
    Sylvia smiled, touched by Grace’s thoughtfulness and amused by her spontaneity. ‘I’m sure your dad will love it.’
    ‘I hope so, I mean, I don’t want it to upset him with all the memories and that, but I think as time goes by it’ll be something he’ll look at again and again. And hopefully the photos of my life will remind him there’s always hope for the future.’ Grace leaned forward in her chair and took a mouthful of risotto.
    I can’t believe she’s my daughter. Sylvia silently acknowledged her gratefulness for the couple who took her daughter home as their own. The couple who cared for her, fed her, taught her, and obviously loved her. She wondered how Grace would have turned out had she taken the responsibility of bringing her up herself. Would she be the same girl that sat here now? Would she dress the same, speak the same, and like the same food? Would she be making a memory album of her if she’d been the one who’d died?
    A few quiet moments followed while they ate their meals, and the restaurant became busier with groups of people coming in and lining up for the buffet. Did people think they were mother and daughter? Or perhaps aunt and niece? It was strange to be having dinner out with an eighteen-year-old girl. Sylvia only ever went out with Larissa, a current boyfriend, or colleagues for a work function. And occasionally her parents on the rare occasions they came to visit, or when she visited them. Since her father’s retirement a year ago, Sylvia thought they might visit more often now they had more time on their hands, but it seemed they’d filled their spare time with golf, day trips with friends,