Excerpt for:
Christmas Wishes
By Danica Winters
Chapter One
A solitary snowflake landed on the pine wreath in Lee
Llewellyn’s hands. Its lacy white edges curled around the warm boughs like
melting fingers, dripping down the pin-point needles and falling
unceremoniously to the frozen grass of the cemetery.
The grass crunched under her feet as she made her way to
the familiar marble headstone with the bird inscribed in the black-inked stone.
Last week’s roses lay at the base, their heads drooping in icy lamentation. The
aged, brittle roses reminded her of the way she always seemed to feel—frozen in
time, waiting for someone to pluck her from her stupor, only to be replaced.
Today the flowers would stay. Lee couldn’t bring herself
to destroy their despondent beauty. They could stay one more week. Daniel
wouldn’t mind—or at least, she hoped his spirit wouldn’t. In truth, he’d never
been one for flowers anyway. If anything, the flowers were more for her, like
the wreath in her hands. Curling the velvety red ribbon so it sat perfectly at
the center, she laid the circular wreath next to the roses, careful to leave
her son’s name legible.
She read each word as she had done a thousand times
before. Daniel Edward Llewellyn. Born May 10th, 1990. Died December
23, 2010.
The tear trickled down Lee’s cheek, unchecked by time or
self-control. She couldn’t imagine a time when the deep pain of those words
would leave her unaffected. Yes, they were only words, little letters etched
into stone, but they signified so much pain and so many memories. They meant
everything to her, just like Daniel.
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