Following Love Read Free

life.”
    â€œHow can I?”
    â€œYou take one day at a time, you heal, you find peace and then you go on. But you never forget the good times.”
    â€œDo you ever miss having a man around?”
    â€œI have men around here all the time,” she said, glancing toward the window.
    â€œYou know what I mean,” Dena added.
    Ellen smiled and winked. “You’re never too old to want a man around from time to time. Now, take this outside.”
    â€œI didn’t come back here for this. Dillon and I just needed a refuge for a while, until I sell the house.”
    â€œWell, you were right in coming here. But you need to think of your future.”
    â€œI am. As soon as the house is sold, we’re moving west.”
    â€œAnd then what?” Ellen asked plainly. “Dillon is going to need a father figure. You need to get back out there and enjoy life. It’s been too long already.”
    â€œDillon has me and the memory of Forester.”
    â€œChild, Dillon was only a few weeks’ conceived when Forester was killed. He’s gonna need someone in his life who’s real.”
    Dena whipped around with anger but held her tongue. She didn’t need a man in her life. Dillon didn’t need a man in his life. They’d be fine just as they were, they had each other.
    â€œAnd before you say it, yes, I’m the last one to go on about the role of a strong man in a young boy’s life. Hell, I’ve raised your cousins alone most of the time. But having my husbands around wasn’t just for my sons, it was for me. I needed companionship, I needed love, and so will you when the time is right.”
    â€œBut that’s just it, Aunt Ellen, I don’t. I still have Forester, here, in my heart. He’s all I need, at least for right now.”
    Ellen smiled and shook her head, knowing that a time would come when her niece would set aside her guilt and pain and come back into the world whole. But until then she knew that it was her job to take care of her.
    She saw the hope in her great-niece’s eyes. “You, child, have your grandmother’s spirit, you’ve just been suppressing it for so long you’ve forgotten how it feels to set it free. My sister, bless her soul, was free and full of life, and she passed that zeal on to your mother. But when your mother got married, she forgot, just like you did. Marriage doesn’t change a person’s true nature, it only makes them better or worse.”
    â€œAunt Ellen, this isn’t about Mom, Dad or Grandma, it’s about me and how I feel. I know what I’m doing for Dillon and me. We need a new life away from here.”
    â€œChild, just take this out to that man. He’s been working for near about two hours straight in that hot sun without as much as a sip of water. I’m not asking you to marry the man, just take him a pitcher of lemonade.”
    Dena looked at her aunt then shook her head. Stubbornness obviously ran in their family. When her aunt put her mind to something, that was all there was. Usually soft-spoken and composed, there was no arguing the fact once she made up her mind.
    She had a heart of gold and was a tender touch that’d been known to save a stray cat in the middle of a raging thunderstorm. She was always helping others and trying to fix things—sinks, stoves, cars, and now, apparently, her niece’s life. Unfortunately most of her fixes were made worse. So as such, Dena took the pitcher and walked outside, knowing that this was just another disaster waiting to happen.
    Â 
    Damned if I didn’t do it again. Julian Hamilton pulled back and with one fierce, penetrating swing slammed hard, using every ounce of strength he could muster. The fury and anger that had built up inside came out each time the sledgehammer met the solid cinder-block wall. He must have been crazy from the beginning.
    He remembered his brother’s warnings in a quote that