Читать книгу A Mother's Love - Cheryl Wolverton - Страница 7

Maggie looked at the suitcase sitting by the front door. It didn’t contain much, just her most treasured possessions. Funny how everything she really cared about could fit into one suitcase.

Looking back at the house and the lavish staircase, she realized what a pampered life she’d led.

Fear clutched her heart, emerging from her numbness. So much had happened in the past seven weeks, things that had totally changed her outlook on life. No more was this house a haven for her; no more was it a place she could run to when she was hurt or afraid.

She saw a maid peek around the corner, heard the muffled sniffles of another when she picked up her suitcase. Maggie hadn’t realized how much the staff cared for her. Of course they wouldn’t say anything about her leaving. Their jobs wouldn’t permit it.

Had her whole life been so marked by privilege? She’d been so innocent, working at a job that had been provided for her, going to the church where she’d been raised, doing everything she’d always been told.

Until now.

But she just couldn’t do what her parents had asked of her.

She couldn’t.

At twenty-six, she was old enough to make her own decisions. It was time to stop listening to everyone else. Past time.

So, when the ultimatum had been given, she had shocked everyone by accepting it.

She went to the door, then looked back one last time. Black dots danced before her eyes, and she swayed before fighting off the dizziness. She’d never been on her own before. She was scared, more scared than she could ever remember being. She took a deep breath.

Pushing the desolation from her thoughts, she reached for the brass doorknob and pulled the door open. She wished once again there was an easy way out of the mess she was in.

But there wasn’t That was why she was leaving.

For better or worse, she had made her bed; now she had to lie in it.

Squaring her shoulders, she headed toward the cab, refusing to look back, promising herself to only look ahead. She would rely only on herself from this day forward to get herself through the next six months.