Read Abbie's Gift for Free Online Page B

with me to do some shopping? I’d like that.”
    “Of course love, I’d like that too”.
     
    Abbie again slept soundly, with none of the previous troubles with sleep tugging at her unconscious in the darkness of the night.
     
    Abbie woke to the sound of rain on the windows and she knew that she had slept deeply. She recalled that she seemed to go straight to sleep as soon as she’d got in bed, and she felt this was a positive sign. Peter’s dressing gown was again draped over the bed, and it looked normal, as though this was how she always slept.
    After she had showered and dressed she went downstairs, to find her mum already up and dressed and, with her bag in the hall, was having breakfast.
    “Morning dear, did you sleep well?”
    “Yes” she replied, “I did”.
    “I’m sure it will get easier as you get used to doing things again. I remember when your father died, it took me a while, but it happened, you’ll soon see.”
    Abbie had always hated having her life compared to the experience of others, but she smiled in graceful acceptance.   She noticed that Rose had deliberately and carefully avoided using the phrase “when you get back to normal”.
     
    After a bowl of porridge and a mug of hot tea, Abbie printed off several more letters that needed to be posted.  She only had three official copies of the death certificate and she recalled that it was Peter’s father who had told her only official copies would do and not photocopies. These letters would have to wait till the death certificates were returned, and besides the first three still needed posting, so she would do that today, she decided.
     
    Abbie felt keen to go running again today.  She had enjoyed the brisk walk yesterday morning and felt that the space and fresh air would do her good.
     
    She was used to taking regular exercise; she had previously run once or twice a week, about two miles each time, and she also loved cycling as long as it was on paths away from traffic. At weekends she would often run with Peter and she had enjoyed this shared activity.  She also liked the fact that these running sessions often concluded in hot and sweaty and somewhat athletic sex once they were home, often in the kitchen where they peeled off their clothes to put in the washer, or in the shower as he soaped and caressed her body.
    Today her legs were a bit heavy from the uphill walk and downhill run yesterday, but she felt her muscles were somehow inspired.
    The rain had eased and the sun began to shine as her mother’s taxi arrived at a few minutes after 10 am. On the doorstep, Rose fought back the tears, but Abbie was strong and she kissed her mother and promised to call her later that evening, or at any time she needed.
    “Thank you” she said, looking into her mother’s eyes. “Mum, how can I ever repay you?” Her mother didn’t answer; she simply gently touched the side of her daughter’s face and smiled.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 4.
     
    As her mother’s taxi drove away Abbie went inside the house and closed the door. Leaning heavily against it, she looked at the empty hallway and felt the silence contained in the house.  She listened and, apart from her own heartbeat and the faint ticking of the kitchen clock, there was nothing.
     
    Abbie went into the lounge and sat down on the sofa, and that overriding sense of bewilderment returned.  She felt empty and this weighed her down. She put a hand to her cheek and felt it damp, and she realised that tears were again flowing, but she thought that at least she could somehow control them, and stop herself being swept again into that dark place of despair.
     
    Struggling to keep her composure, she sat looking at a photo of her and Peter that had been taken when they were on holiday in Venice.  They were both bright-eyed and smiling at time when their love was new and they had the whole of their lives ahead of them.
    Abbie was unsure how long