Rushing Waters Read Online Free PDF

had a slim figure and was very fit. She had done yoga for years and still did. She had the erect posture of a dancer, which she attributed to years of ballet in her youth, before she discovered yoga. She had tried to get Ellen interested in it but never could. She thought it would be good for her and help her relax.
    “Nasty weather,” Ellen commented to her mother, glancing out the window as she sank into a comfortable chair. “What are they saying about the hurricane? Is it still heading this way?” They could see the slim trees outside swaying in the heavy wind, but it wasn’t unusual for end-of-summer storms.
    “More or less,” Grace said vaguely, clearly not worried, “and no matter what they say now, they’ll declare it a tropical storm before it gets here.” Grace still kept a “go bag” buried in a closet somewhere, with clothes, a few minor medicines, and whatever she might need if they were ever evacuated again. But storm warnings in August and September were considered more of a nuisance than a serious threat.
    The building Grace lived in was in Zone 1, which had been categorized as the prime flood zone five years before, which was inevitable since it was on the river. And the building had added an emergency generator four years before, after Sandy, which was reassuring, and Grace really never gave it any thought. She wasn’t a person who dwelled on past hardships—she turned her mind to the future and moved on. She was a practical person with a positive point of view, which had influenced Ellen’s outlook on life since her youth.
    In her mother’s opinion, there was nothing one couldn’t do, a view that had fortified Ellen during the past four years as she doggedly pursued pregnancy, convinced that sooner or later their dreams of a family would come true. She kept her mind on the goal, that she and George would have their own baby one day. Although her mother had wondered for the past year if they might be wiser to come up with a more realistic alternate plan, like adoption, she hadn’t voiced her concerns to Ellen and didn’t want to discourage her. She thought their courage and determination admirable, even if a little desperate at times, and she was impressed that her son-in-law was still willing to go along with the plan, despite the poor outcome so far. Grace thought that most men would have given up by then. She and Ellen’s father had tried to have a second child for several years and after numerous miscarriages had decided that one child was enough for them, and she had never regretted not pursuing it further. The thought of what Ellen had gone through for the past four years seemed horrifying to Grace, although she could understand the desire to have at least one child, but adoption also seemed like an acceptable plan to her, and didn’t to them. She assumed their aversion to adoption had something to do with George’s traditional views about carrying on his own bloodline, as well as with her daughter’s stubborn refusal to give up. She was her mother’s daughter in many ways, in a slightly modified version. Both women were known for their strong wills, hard work, and perseverance.
    “What would you like to do today?” Grace smiled at her daughter across the desk, as they listened to the wind howling outside.
    “Whatever you want,” Ellen said easily. “I’m just happy being here with you. Do you have any errands we need to do?” They liked going shopping together, wandering around SoHo and Tribeca and stopping at some small restaurant for lunch, although it didn’t look like a great day for that. “Do you suppose we should stock up on some supplies in case the stores close and we get stuck at home for several days?” Ellen knew the drill for preparation for big storms.
    “Let’s not panic yet.” Grace dismissed the thought. “The storm warnings on the news will have half of New York lining up at supermarkets today, and then the hurricane will take a sharp turn