Surrender Read Online Free

away the sadness that threatened to overwhelm me every time I entered this room. My eyes remained glued to my blue-eyed son—the spitting image of his father—too afraid to look around lest it bring back old memories.
    â€œCome on, kiddo,” I said, ruffling his blond hair. “Let’s get ready for Aunt Elsie’s wedding.”
    â€”
    After I dressed and did my makeup, I found mother and daughter in the kitchen, placing decorations in a box on the counter. I gently pried the shells from Elsie’s hands, taking over the job. “I’ll get these down to the beach,” I said. “You still need to get ready, Els.”
    â€œWhat about Will?” Elodie asked, her hair only half-styled, making her look a little like one of the ladies on
Ab Fab
.
    â€œI’m all ready!” Will announced beside us. My chest felt tight at the sight of my son looking so much older in his tan suit. It didn’t seem all that long ago that he was a tiny, chubby thing taking his first steps.
    I bent down and wrapped him in my arms, fighting the urge to get all gooey and teary eyed. The truth was, I was one of
those
moms, the one who cried when she dropped off her kid on the first day of school, the one who kept her baby’s first onesie and took it out from time to time to sniff. To see my son getting so big was both a joy and an ache.
    Before leaving with the decorations, I stopped in Elsie’s room as she was fixing her hair in front of the closet door mirror. She looked up at me and I recognized the sadness in her eyes. But it wasn’t from reservations about the guy she was going to marry; rather, it was the sorrow of a sister who wished her brother was alive to attend her wedding to his best friend.
    I sat on the bed behind her, wishing I knew the right words to ease her pain. But then again, if I did, I would have told myself long ago. “I have something for you,” I told her reflection. “A ‘something borrowed.’”
    She turned around and looked at me expectantly. “Something of Jason’s?”
    I nodded and pulled out the medal. “Jason’s Purple Heart,” I said, handing it to her.
    Her eyes misted over as she touched it gently. “How do you have it?”
    â€œYour dad gave it to me for safekeeping during their first visit in Dallas. He asked that I hold on to it until Will was old enough to understand.” I had stared at that medal for hours that night, unable to sleep.
    Elsie nodded, taking deep breaths.
    â€œI’m sorry. I should have given it to you before you applied your makeup.”
    She let out a short laugh. “Probably so.” She stood up and gave me a warm embrace. “Thank you, Julie. This really means a lot to me.”
    â€”
    During the ceremony, as I stood to the side with the bridesmaids, watching Elsie bind herself to the man she’d loved all her life, Jason’s words came back to me.
    The kind of love that burns so bright it lights you up from the inside.
    A person only had to take one look at the expression on Henry’s face—at the way his eyes were soft around the edges, the elated smile he was fighting so hard to contain—to know that theirs was a love that spanned lifetimes.
    My eyes watered at the thought that I hadn’t felt that way about Jason, that even though I loved him with all I had, in the end it hadn’t been enough.
    I turned away from the bride and groom, blinking quickly, and looked out over the small group of guests. None—save for Elodie and John—looked familiar, but there in the back, almost a head taller than the rest of the guests, was a handsome face framed by brown hair tinged with gold.
    â€”
    After the wedding party’s procession back down the aisle, Neal stood up and made his way toward me, rubbing a hand through the scruff on his cheek. He wore a light blue sweater and gray pants that were folded up at the hems to reveal bare feet.