Resurgence (Heart of Stone #9) Read Online Free PDF Page A

Tonight we drink to
my brother, and to Aunt Courtney.”
    Everyone lifted their glass. And as I looked out, at each
of my friends, I realised that I wasn’t empty. Far from it. I was leaving with
a full heart. How it should be.
    “You okay, sweetheart?”
    Kade’s soft brush of his knuckles against my cheek made me
turn and reach up to him. He kissed me, softly, but knowingly. “Are you coming
home?”
    I nodded. “Yeah. It’s time.”
    Catching my gaze, his own filled with tears, he smiled.
“He’s always with you, Ava. Your children never leave you. Ever. Whether
they’re here or not, in your heart they’ll live forever.”
    “You know,” I sighed, “Once, long ago, I hated myself for
falling in love with you. Now, I can’t imagine never loving you.”
    He swallowed, wiping the tears from my eyes with his
thumb. “Back at ‘ya, sweetheart.”
    “We did okay, didn’t we?”
    He nodded, smiling widely. “We fucking did. Very okay.”
    I was swung up and around and I laughed, slapping Nate on
the arm before he pulled me in for a hug. “I missed you. America has lots of
things, but it doesn’t have my best friend,” he said in my ear. Putting me
down, he frowned. “So you’re leaving us, huh?”
    “Yeah. We need this, Nate.”
    “I know you do. And I’m happy that you are.” His eyes
roamed down me, and that mischievous smile tilted his lips, along with one of
his eyebrows.
    Sighing, and shaking my head in humour, I rolled my eyes
at him. “One look. I do owe you, after all.”
    He slapped his hand on his chest and grinned.
“Twenty-four years. Twenty-four long years. And now, now I get to look up your
skirt!”
    Slinging my hands in the air, I laughed and turned.
Bending right over, I snuck a look between my parted legs. Nate’s face peered
back at me, a huge grin on his handsome face.
    “That was worth every damn year!”
    Liv laughed, shaking her own head in amusement. “It’s no
wonder I’m bloody grey!”
    “That’s just cos your old, Liv.”
    Her eyes widened on me but then she barked out a laugh.
“Damn, tell it like it is, hun.”
    “I always do.”
    “Yeah,” she smiled.
    Hugging me to her, I whispered in her ear. “Love my best
friend for both of us, Liv.”
    “Always,” she whispered back. “With all my heart and
yours.”
    A sob rippled from me and I nodded wildly. Her own tears
flooded down her cheeks as she nodded with me.
    My friends drank. My friends laughed.
    And an hour later, Mason and I slipped quietly out of the
back door, our hearts and souls still with our best friends.
    “I need to go somewhere before we go.”
    Mason frowned but nodded. “Okay.”
     
    ~~~
     
    Mason knelt before the grave, plucking at the weeds that
had found their way through the ground, and placed the single white rose upon
the headstone.
    I gave him a quiet moment, time for just the two of them.
For him to say what he needed to. He muttered quietly, his voice low and soft
as he tended lovingly.
    The cemetery was quiet, the clouds overhead bringing with
them a chill to the air. I always wondered where my little spot would be, and
for some strange reason, my eyes filtered down to the headstone, reading the
words that were etched in my heart.
     
    Rebecca Grace
Delaney
    Loved, and
never forgotten
     
    We had shared so much, our love for the same man giving
us a bond of love and hate that wouldn’t ever be severed, even in death.
    “She loved you so very much,” I whispered as I knelt
beside my husband.
    He smiled, and nodded. “Yeah. I know.”
    “Life’s cruel, Mason.” Taking his hand, I brought his
knuckles to my lips and gently kissed them. “She knew that, I know that. You
know it. But she never gave up. And now, Debora and Becca are there to hold her
hand. She’s not lonely anymore.”
    He nodded, wiping away the single tear that he allowed
liberation.  Bending, he kissed the name of the other woman that held his
heart, and then taking my hand, he took me home.

The Final