CHAPTER 60
My feet knew their own way down to the Cow, as did my family’s, so the others simply followed. I had settled into a linked-arms walk with my lover, because after Mike’s revelations I simply didn’t feel like letting her go.

My stomach was still churning. I was so, so lucky in my family, as was Alys, and once again my mind was racing ahead, seeing us all simply as one family. Sod formality: Tref’s comment had set a very deep hook into my soul.

Mother and child are reunited.

The night was almost over when Danielle and Josh were finally finished with the Police. Once they’d shown the video recording to the Officer who had arrived, he called in the local CID.

The Belle of Vicksburg

In order to write a book, I think the first one must establish the setting. Then one must introduce the main protagonist that drives the plot forward to the reader. Allow me then to first establish the setting for you. Then, please allow me to introduce you to the protagonist of the following story. The setting is Vicksburg, Mississippi. The city itself is one of the principal cities of Mississippi with a population of around fifty thousand. The city is located on the high bluff that overlooks a gentle bend in the Mississippi River.

A group of friends streams their gaming on Wednesday nights. But not all the action is on the dining room table.

Part 4

It was odd to be back in my old room. It had, of course, been undergoing a change over the months, the wardrobe now filled with my summer clothes, giving room for the winter things at the Hall. I had brought enough winter things to see me through the holiday. The four of us had Christmas Day at home, me giving my parents and sister their gifts. I had been to the shops on the way home from the Hall and had them gift wrapped in the shop. I wasn’t fully girl, just yet.

The Awakening
A Vignette
By Maryanne Peters

She woke to the sound of music. They had rented the “La Villa Musica” for a month just to soak up the Adriatic Coast, and simply because they could afford it. He was not lying beside her in the bedroom with the view. The windows were open, and the curtains moved with the warm sea breeze. The music seemed to be coming from the lounge – from the grand piano.

Marching in time with his fellow recruits Mirek tried his best to ignore the bitter wind that swept through the mountain valley. It wasn't easy. Gritty snow that was more like sand peppered his face, frost hung from his eyelashes, and his woollen scarf was icy around his mouth. His fingers felt brittle, as if the bones had turned to ice.

He took both my hands in his, startling me. “I’d like to make it up to you."

FRANKIE

I clicked the top back onto the lipstick and replaced it carefully in the dressing table drawer along with the other make up I’d used. Studying myself in the mirror, I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. I felt relaxed - for the first time in a long while. Perhaps for the first time since my sister, two years older than me, had left home to go to college in the US ten weeks ago. I missed her enormously. We were close - much closer than most siblings, but we had our parents to thank for that.