*This is my way of coping with my late grandmother's recent death. She loved her turquoise jewelery more than all the gold in her drawers. In a classic 'The Notebook' style love story, meets a forming bond between a girl and her grandmother, and how the girl begins to realize how her life is shaping up like her grandmother's once did. Please enjoy, this is my first more serious novel.*
CHAPTER ONE
ONCE UPON A TIME...
“Charlotte,” My mother whispered to me. It was my turn now to go up to the podium. I did so, feeling numb as I looked at the people sitting in the pews. Clearing my throat, I looked once to the paper I had wrote the eulogy on, back at the blank, sad faces, and down to the paper again.
“Elizabeth Marie Shale-Gregor lived a long, good life. She was a beloved daughter, sister, friend, mother, and grandmother,” My voice broke on that last word. I took a deep breath and looked back to the mourners. I slowly read through the rest of the eulogy not even my parents could attempt.
People continued to come up to me after the mass, giving their sympathies. I could see Benjamin across the room. I paid him no mind, and snuck out the fire exit door into the peaceful little garden. I sat on a bench near a small stone pond, and looked into the water. Goldfish swam around, their scales reflecting the outside world.
“Hi, Charlie.” A smooth voice broke the silence. I looked up to see Nathaniel standing across from me. He had made it after all, still looking as disheveled as usual.
“Thank you for coming, Nate.” I whispered. He shrugged and walked to be next to me, even though I remained sitting on the pond wall edge.
“Yeah, it was the least I could do. I remember you talking about her once or twice in class. I know you guys were really close, and you could always use a friend at a time like this.” He said, his voice comforting. I forced a small laugh.
“As shocking as this may sound, Nate, I never was that close to my grandma. You could go as far to say that I advoided her whenever possible. She was just so stubborn. And if you didn’t meet her standards, you weren’t worth her time. I never met her standards. It wasn’t until she was diagnosed did I even bother to sit in the same room as her alone.”
“So, why did you?”
“Why did I what?”
“Why did you decide to even bother with her towards the end?” He asked me. I looked back at the doors. No one seemed to notice we were out here.
“It’s kind of a long story.” I told him. He sat down in the grass, patting the empty space next to him.
“We’ve got time. Unless you’d rather be in there with Benny boy.” Nathaniel teased me carefully. I laughed again and sat next to him, smoothing out the black dress I wore.
“Okay, I guess. Are you sure you want to hear it?” I looked at him as he smoothed his extremely wavy hair back and smiled at me playfully.
“All of it.” Looking away from his broad smirk, I gathered my hair, draping it over my shoulder and looked at the gold ring with the blue stone set in the center.
“This is a story about how the upper-class debutante fell in love with the lower-class servant, even though she could've had the boy of every girl's dreams," I took a breath and looked back at Nathaniel's warm eyes. "Or something like that."
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