United (The United Trilogy Book 1) by Jaci Wheeler Read Free Book Online Page A

team.  One of the biggest reasons it has worked so well for so long is because of this choosing process.”
    Leave it to my dad to appeal to the logical side of my brain.  When he didn’t feel he was getting anywhere he cast a quick “help” look over to my mom. 
    “Rozie, look at me. Do you feel we have been good parents to you?  Instilled good values? Taught you to always do what’s right?”
    I look at her skeptically, wondering where she is going with this, “Of course you have.”
    At my reply she gave a quick nod and soft smile, “In all honesty do you feel you agree with our way of living, do you hold those same values as your own, do you value equality and fairness above all else?   Are you still the same child who always felt others' pain?   Who feels pain and joy when others feel them?   Have you or your beliefs changed at all?”
    “Of course not, Mom, you know this. But I’m not following you!”
    “Rozie, you have always had a sweet spirit, yet at the same time never allowed people to walk all over you.  You were born a true leader.  You were always constant and all of the things I said before.  Do you know how rare that is for someone of your age, to be that consistent throughout their life?   To continue to want what’s best for others and willing to make sacrifices for the greater good?  That’s not normal, Roz.  That makes you so special.  Most kids have a selfish streak in them, actually most people.  Some can contain it or deny it better than others, but teenagers are known for not being able to see past their own problems.  You have never been that way.”
    She looked deep into my eyes and said again, “You are special.”
    I truly wanted to believe everything she was saying.  I know she meant every word, yet it wasn’t all true.  I was selfish.  Didn’t I just spend the last few weeks freaking out over the Career ceremony?  Wasn’t I so caught up in my own feelings and worries to even notice how my parents were being affected?   I might be some of those things, but I’m not selfless, and I don’t feel that special.  There wasn’t anything more I could do so I took a few deep calming breaths, I told my parents how much I loved them and appreciated all their kind words and support, and I took myself to bed.  I decided I was emotionally drained and I wasn’t going to be able to figure anything out tonight.  Tonight all I could do was sleep, tomorrow I would make a game plan, but tonight I was just going to shut down.
    I woke up in the morning still feeling like this couldn’t be real.  My parents were both already gone for work and it was just me in a silent house, with all the time I needed to think….great!  I went into the kitchen and on the counter was a note in my father’s messy handwriting. 
    Good Morning Roz,
    “ I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.  The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear. ”
Nelson Mandela
    We love you! 
    Dad
    Ever since I can remember, whenever I am going through a hard time my dad has left me little notes with uplifting quotes from the past.  He has done it again.  Somehow, in the midst of all this confusion, he was able to bring some hope to my heart and a smile to my face.  First things first, I needed a big breakfast, a long hot bath and then I needed to open my letter.  Of course I wasn’t going to find a hearty  breakfast in this house.  Inspiring quotes? Of course. But for breakfast I had to go next door. 
    I showed up on the Sanders's porch in my PJs and bed head and knocked once, then twice, then one more time before I scanned my hand and opened the door.  All houses are equipped with hand-scan recognition.  Once we realized how much we were living at each other’s houses both of our parents thought it made more sense to add Wes and me to the household scanners.  The crazy knocking, of course, was Wes’s brainchild.  As a