CHAPTER Thirty-Five

　　Gracie

　　Ryland and I were sitting on his bed, going through the box containing my mom’s things. There were things such as jewellery, photos, my mom’s perfume, along with some other odds and ends. It was nice to see all these things, but the tears were streaming down my face as I looked and recognized them.

　　“How are you doing, beautiful” Ryland asked, wrapping his arm around me.

　　“I am OK, it's just all overwhelming,” I replied.

　　“I can’t even begin to imagine.” he replied back, kissing the top of my head.

　　I sigh, resting my head on his shoulder, and continue to look through everything, missing the warmth of her smile; she had such a gentle smile, but she also had sadness in her eyes a lot of the time. I didn’t notice that when I was a kid, but as I grew older, I noticed it because I became painfully aware of what she was going through.