Holding the Dream Read Online Free PDF

container. “For me, just being here and looking is half the fun.”
    â€œWell. . .” Whatever Margo said was, to Ali, gospel. Margo was glamorous and different; Margo had run away to Hollywood at eighteen, had lived in Europe and had been involved in wonderful, exciting scandals. Nothing ordinary and awful like marriage and divorce. “I guess it’s kinda fun. But I wish we’d find more coins.”
    â€œPersistence.” Kate flipped a finger from Ali’s chin to her nose. “Pays. What would have happened if Alexander Graham Bell had given up before he put that first call through? If Indiana Jones hadn’t gone on that last crusade?”
    â€œIf Armani hadn’t sewed that first seam?” Margo put in and earned a fresh giggle.
    â€œIf Star Trek hadn’t gone where no one had gone before,” Laura finished, and had the pleasure of seeing her daughter flash a smile.
    â€œWell, maybe. Can we see the coin again, Aunt Margo?”
    Margo reached in her pocket. She’d fallen into the habit of carrying the old Spanish gold coin with her. Ali took it gingerly, and because she was awed, as always, held it so that Kayla could coo over it too.
    â€œIt’s so shiny.” Kayla touched it reverently. “Can I pick some flowers for Seraphina?”
    â€œSure.” Leaning over, Laura kissed the top of her head. “But don’t go near the edge to throw them over without me.”
    â€œI won’t. We always do it together.”
    â€œI guess I’ll help her.” Ali handed Margo the coin. But when she stood up, her pretty mouth went thin. “Seraphina was stupid to jump. Just because she wasn’t going to be able to marry Felipe. Marriage is no good anyway.” Then she remembered Margo and blushed.
    â€œSometimes,” Laura said quietly, “marriage is wonderful and kind and strong. And other times it isn’t wonderful enough, or kind enough or strong enough. But you’re right, Ali, Seraphina shouldn’t have jumped. When she did that, she ended everything she could have become, threw away all those possibilities. It makes me feel very sorry for her.” She watched her daughter, head drooping, shoulders hunched, walk away. “She’s so hurt. She’s so angry.”
    â€œShe’ll get through this.” Kate gave Laura’s hand a bracing squeeze. “You’re doing everything right.”
    â€œIt’s been three months since they’ve seen Peter. He hasn’t even bothered to call them.”
    â€œYou’re doing everything right,” Kate repeated. “You’re not responsible for the asshole. She knows you’re not to blame—inside she knows that.”
    â€œI hope so.” Laura shrugged and picked at a piece of chicken. “Kayla just bounces and Ali broods. Well, I guess we’re a textbook example that kids can grow up in the same house and be raised by the same people and turn out differently.”
    Kate’s stomach wrenched.
    â€œTrue.” Margo had a low-grade urge for a cigarette, quashed it. “But we’re all so fabulous. Well . . .” She smiled sweetly at Kate. “Most of us.”
    â€œJust for that, I’m eating the last piece of chicken.” Kate popped a couple of Tums first. Medication helped her to eat when she had no desire for food. Nervous heartburn, she thought of the low burn just under her breastbone. Insisted on thinking of it that way. “I was telling Margo that I’d be able to pitch in at the shop on Saturdays.”
    â€œWe could use the help.” Laura shifted so she could continue the conversation and keep an eye on her daughters. “Last Saturday was a madhouse, and I could only give Margo four hours.”
    â€œI can put in a full day.”
    â€œWonderful.” Margo plucked some glossy grapes from abunch. “You’ll be hunkered over the computer the whole time, trying