Read The Summer Solstice ~ Enchanted for Free Online Page B

age.
    “How old were you here?”
    Rose glances over the desk to answer my question.
“Oh, we had just gotten married. I was 19, your grandfather 22 at the time. An
older man,” she smiles proudly. We spent a lot of time in Greece out of
curiosity. That’s where all of this came from.” Her hands sweep through the
air, gesturing around the room.
    I look back into the book. “You’re beautiful. You
look so much like my mom here.” I finger the photograph gently.
    “I always thought she resembled someone who could
be my daughter. Your mom never agreed.” Rose laughs again. “Was your mom
stubborn with you as well?”
    Smiling, I nod as I remember. “Oh yes.”
    “Are you?”
    I laugh now, unable to help myself. “Yes. My mom
always said that whatever I wanted I would make happen. She said I was like her
that way.”
    The rest of the book is filled with photos of
Greece. This intrigues me. Toward the back of the book were pictures of the
original Summer Estates. It looked just as I pictured the house all of these
years. Such an important time in my mother’s life and she never shared those
memories with me. Were they too painful? Did she ever miss Rose? I can’t
help but think now that maybe my mom did love Rose just as much as Rose loved
her. Sadness creeps into my heart. We were happy together, but besides our time
together and the odd night out, my mother really just kept to herself.
    I turn through the pages of the photo album. The
pictures reveal how magnificent the old house was even back in the day. The
vast open windows that spread along all sides of the house are what make it
brilliant.
    “Wow, to think you had to rebuild your entire home
after all that time is – sad.”
    Rose nods. “We were fortunate enough to salvage
what we did out of the fire but it’s just not the same. It took almost a year
to rebuild, but we were determined to design something that we could see
ourselves in for the rest of our lives. The one thing your grandfather and I
wanted more than anything was to have a wing that resembled the original look
of the home.”
    I nod my head, taking this moment to look around
again. “You did a good job. Has it gotten any easier? Life without him I mean.”
    Rose closes her eyes, her chest expands and with a
release she opens them again. “You probably wonder why I keep so busy with the
city. It’s something I’m passionate about but it’s also a way to not constantly
think of what I’ve lost over the years. Your grandfather and I were
inseparable. When I start to think of him and sadness takes hold of me, I
immediately try to remember the good times and my sadness becomes joy at the
memory of our lives together.”
    As she speaks I can see myself in her and hear
myself speak these same words. Although there are pieces of my life that will
never be filled again after the passing of my mother, I’m learning more about myself
sitting here with Rose. In that, I find some peace.
    The next three books that Rose gives to me are
filled with my mom’s teen years. I spend even more time flipping through the
books and have many questions for Rose. I ask about my mom’s friends and what
she did in her spare time. I find out that she was a cheerleader. My mom, a
cheerleader! I never would have believed it, but I can see it for myself. My
mom stands there in her long green and black skirt and matching sweater.
    I’m halfway through the photo album when I begin to
recognize a familiar face appearing throughout the book, next to my mother.
Hugging her. Kissing her cheek. Holding her hand. Studying back-to-back.
Chasing her into the water. I realize all too slowly that this must be my father.
I’ve never seen a photo of him. An unfamiliar pang in my heart hits me.
    “Did your mom tell you how they met?”
    My eyes are still glued to his picture when I nod. Where
is he now? A secret part of me, deep down, where no one would ever know,
wondered why he didn’t show up after my mom passed. If he