”He leaned down and softly kissed Hope on her forehead and then resumed gently rocking with his adopted grand-daughter cradled safely in his arms.In...the front room, Constance, wearing a dress for the first time in many days, had heated a bucket of water over the fire. Now Charity stood naked in the small tub while Prudence and Constance washed her down with soap and damp rags.When she was done, she stepped out of the tub and stood still while Prudence dried her body and then brushed out her. Everything was going normal after dinner he was watching TV while i was cleaning the table.He called for me to come and said that he wanted to talk to me.He told me to sit I sat next to him but he said to sit on his lap when I did i felt really weird but excited.He started stroking my legs and told me that he had been feeling very lonely since grandma died and asked me if I loved him and if I would do him a favor.My heart was beating so fast and i immediately said that I would do anything he. I need to be there, but Mom said I could invite you.”“What time?”“1:00pm.”“I’ll be there!”“What about seeing Jocelyn?”“Until I talk to her on Tuesday, I won’t really know any details. But I can manage to drive up to see her from McKinley pretty often.”“How long will she be in the hospital?”“I have no clue.”We got out of the car and walked up the long driveway to the house, then along a brick walk to the backyard where a couple of dozen people were gathered. I recognized a couple of the guys. A new world opened to me. The shape before me was myself or at least partially so. 'Mother' was me in a way. Yes. I was part of mother. A memory somehow, but not quite mine, supplied long blonde hair scattered about her face that I knew had to be termed beautiful. A completeness in the three of us, and an almost insurmountable obstacle overcome. I followed the thoughts frantically because I thought I might fade back to the shabby existence I had just left. I did not even know of this heightened.