Envisioning Hope (22 page)

Prologue

Five
Years Later

"Mommy,
can you see me?"

I
listened for that voice. Everywhere I went and heard that voice, I was filled
with overwhelming emotion.

"Yes,
honey…I see you!" I yelled back to my four year old son, Jackson, who was
running around not far from us. "I see you and you've got ice cream on the
end of your nose!" I joked with him. He loved when I played along. I held
on tight as Ollie walked me across the fresh blanket of snow that lay quietly
over the frozen ground.

I
followed his footsteps and when he stopped, I knew what was in front of me. I
let go of his arm and bent down, sliding the bouquet of fall colored flowers
into the pewter vase that was attached to the large headstone.

"They're
beautiful," Oliver whispered in my ear from behind me as I quickly stood
back up. "The scent made them seem like they were," I told him as I
put my hand over the top of his, running my finger over the wide band that
surrounded his ring finger. I stepped out of his hold and approached the
gravestone slowly. My hand reached out, touching the top of it and I knelt down
so I was able to be on eye level with what was left of my other life. A life
that still remained so dear to me. I ran my hand over Charlie's name feeling
the letters reveal to me the reality that this was all I had left of him.

I
didn't get to attend their funerals so Ollie made sure that I got to say my
goodbyes by bringing me out here. It was hard… the hardest thing I ever had to
do in my life, but I knew they were both happy and they knew the same about me.
I reached out to the other side and ran my fingers over the letters that made
Sawyer's name known to me and I smiled.

"Miss
you every day, my little man." Slowly tracing over the
W
in his
name was usually when it would hit me that this never got any easier. "He
knows, Hope." Ollie's voice came up behind me as he placed his hand on my
shoulder. And there was my answer on why I loved this man so much. It didn't
matter how many times I would come here in my lifetime, he knew each time was
still as hard as the first, and yet, there he stood, reassuring and comforting
me, knowing I absorbed every bit of it.

Sitting
here in this cold cemetery with nothing but blackness surrounding me, I
realized that I had found something I had lost so long ago. Something that I
just knew, deep down, I would never be able to find again.

But,
I did.

Hope.

Purpose.

"Tell
me what you see, Hope."

Ollie's
words brought a shiver to my skin when I thought back to the first time he
asked me that question. I had trouble answering it then. Now, I stood up,
turned to him, and wrapped his big warm arms around me, allowing him to give me
what I was in need of. Running my hand over the soft hair that covered his jaw,
I pictured his gorgeous face looking at me, eyes burning with love for me, and
knew I didn't even have to think about the answer.

"I
see life again, Ollie…only because you give me the sight to see it."

The
End

About the Author

Tracy Lee

“I
am a lover of chocolate, an outspoken dreamer who cannot survive without chaos!
Those who truly know me can attest that I am obsessed with chocolate peanut
butter anything. I write about hot, alpha men and the women who love them and
the only way that I can get anything accomplished is in a crisis. I am no good in
math; as a matter of fact, I suck in math. My true love is the English language
and everything about it. My children are my world and will always be babies to
me.

Tracy
lives with her husband and 4 children in a small town just outside Tulsa, Ok.
Originally from Brandon, Florida she was a city girl at heart. Growing tired of
living in the concrete jungle she wanted a change of scenery and pace; she
packed her kids up and moved to Oklahoma where she met her husband.  Now she’s
seen snow, touched pigs and has cows and chickens in her back yard.

Being
a stay at home mom she became an avid reader and part-time blogger, she decided
to put the three of them together and try her hand at writing and fell in love.
In between running kids from band practice to PTO meetings, she enjoys her “me
time” working on her next book.  She thoroughly enjoys head-banging heavy metal
and a kickass game of Black Ops and will be your slave if you offer her
chocolate.

Be sure
to add her to keep updated on her upcoming books:

Tracy’s
official website page
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