Nor was it so as, after their arrival, they registered at a motel near the hospital and prepared for the last lag of their journey.

Once she had sulked and pouted for a few hours Pat seemed to have accepted the fact that she was going to face her oldest sister in less than ideal circumstances.

Nothing, however, had prepared them for the sight that met them as they stepped into the hospital room and saw their sister, her thin, wispy body draped in a white hospital gown, various tubes protruding from her body.

All the love she had ever felt for her oldest sister came flooding back as Grace tenderly bent to kiss her sister's moist forehead.

"Gracie," her sister's voice was low and a little horse, but recognizable. Her vivid blue eyes were the same as Grace remembered. Only now they were rimmed with dark shadows and dulled with pain. "You look so much like mother," she went on. Then her eyes traveled past Grace to Pat and she smiled. "And this is baby Patty? Grown into a woman, hasn't she?"

A rasping cough interrupted her, and when it had passed she groped for Grace's hand.

"Listen, Gracie, I haven't much time. No, I know it's true," she said as Grace made a movement of protest. "I was foolish not to get medical attention sooner, but we were so poor after all Stan's hospital expenses and I didn't want to take charity." She shut her eyes for a moment as though gathering strength. When she opened them again they rested on Grace's face as though trying to see past the outward shell, as though trying to penetrate her inward strengths and weaknesses.

"Gracie, I've called you here to ask something of you," she said soberly. "Something very important to me and to my Stan." The grip on Grace's hand tightened and as though to keep her from leaving.

"I'm here, Kathy." Grace assured.

The woman paused to gather her strength before continuing. "You know my Stan and I were married for many years," she said. "He was a good man, Gracie. A really good man, in spite of what Papa thought. He had a heart in him. A big, generous, caring heart."

"I'm sure he did, Kathy," Grace said quickly.

"It's true that he didn't always have good business sense. Stan was too trusting and generous to those who didn't deserve his trust."

Grace waited, believing that Kathy was about to ask her to pay some past debts.

"You know he didn't have an easy childhood, don't you, Gracie? Living in that boy's home for most of his life, and then being sent to reformatory because he let himself be swayed by what the other boys in his gang were doing?"

"I never thought badly of Stan, Kathy." Grace said, thinking how her attitude had been in stark contrast to their father's.

Kathy nodded. "You always were a gently, easy going child, Gracie. So much like mother. That's why I thought of you. You must understand what Stan felt, and what he made me to feel. All those children living as he had to live, without ever having a real chance at life."

"What are you trying to say, Kathy?" Grace pressed, fearing that her sister was beginning to ramble.

"Our children," she said with strong emotion. "I won't rest until you promise me you'll take care of our children after I'm gone, Gracie."

Children! Why hadn't she thought of children? It would seem logical, wouldn't it, that after so many years of marriage, Stan and Kathy would have children?

"Of course I shall take care of any children you have, Kathy," Grace said quickly. "After all, your children are a part of me too, aren't they?"

"They're a gift, Gracie." Kathy said firmly. "That's what Stan and I felt. Do you see children that way, Gracie?"

"I think I can see what you mean, Kathy," Grace soothed.

For several moments the blue eyes searched Grace's face closely. The woman must have been reassured by what she saw, for after a time she sighed and seemed to relax slightly.

"I need to rest now," she mumbled, nestling her head deeper into her pillow. "You'll come back, won't you, Gracie, after I've rested, so that we can talk some more?"

Other browser readable electronic romance books by Rosalie Joyce

No Greater Love    Price $9.95  
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On her way to the airport Haley is involved in a serious automobile accident that leaves her badly injured and suffering from memory loss. Her father insists that Haley has been living with him, developing a close father daughter relationship and enjoying the social whirl of high society, but no matter how hard she tries, Haley can't seem to get back into the swing of things. Then there's her Peter Grant. What is there about her father's servant that she finds so unnerving? And why the underlying hostility between Peter and her father?
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Cindy had made up her mind that she would never allow another man to get close enough to hurt her as Lance had hurt her. But that was before she met Carl Branson and his niece, Lizzy. It was for Lizzy's sake that she went along with a bogus engagement to Carl, and it was for Lizzy's sake that she opened the door of her home to the handsome young man. But had she opened the door of her heart as well?
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With two suitors vying for her attention it seemed odd that Penny should be becoming more and more interested in Sid, the remote, often brash, young photographer.
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Guardian Angel    Price $9.95  
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Set in the mid-sixties, this story tells of a young woman who flees to a farm in order to hide from her stepmother and an unwelcome suitor, only to discover unexpected romance.
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