Free The Promise of Provence (Love in Provence Book 1) by Patricia Sands

Have you ever felt anything so exquisitely soft?”
    “It’s beautiful, and just what I need for the hours I spend in my chair by the window. You noticed the one I have is getting a little worn, didn’t you? And such a perfect color!”
    When Elisabeth handed Katherine her last present, she kept her hand on it as she spoke. “Katerina, angyalom, szeretlek .I love you more than you can possibly understand. That’s the way it is between parents and children. You have been my pride and joy.”
    “ Anyu , we have been a wonderful family.” Katherine struggled to keep her composure as her eyes welled up. “I know how much you miss Father, as do I.”
    “ Igen . . . but hush . . . there have been too many tears. This gift is something you have been asking for over many, many years. It is something I was unable to give to you for a long time. Impossible. Lehetetien. ”
    Katherine had no idea what was coming.
    Elisabeth continued, not lifting her hand from the beautifully wrapped present. “Watching you work through your heartbreak, I realized I had an important message for you that only this gift would help you understand. It is time.”
    “I’m sure whatever it is, is wonderful. Are you actually going to give it to me? You have quite a grip on it.”
    A strange look crossed Elisabeth’s face as she passed the gift to her daughter, still keeping her hands on it. As they both held it, she issued one final instruction, her voice breaking slightly. “There is just one condition that accompanies this gift, my darling. You may not open it until I have passed from this earth.”
    Katherine’s eyes widened.
    “Anyu?”
    “This is our story. The story of my family, and your father’s, during the war. The story your father and I shared with each other and never anyone else in this country. Of course, Uncle Andrew was also part of it. I have never regretted that decision, but I know my days here are not long and then it will be important for you to know.”
    Bursting into tears, Katherine wrapped her mother in her arms. “Please don’t talk like that. You have a good, long life ahead of you. But thank you for writing this. It’s important to me and to Andrea and her family, and we will be eternally grateful. I will respect your wishes, so I believe it will be a very, very long time from now until I see it.”
    Elisabeth held her tightly and said. “I hope I don’t have long, my Katerina. I am ready to join my Jozsef, and I feel my body slipping . . . I feel it. So don’t be sad. You are making these days of mine so full of happiness, and let us just continue. So no more tears! I am not crying, and I don’t want you to either.”
    That night, the lights were out early, as Elisabeth said she was exhausted and needed to rest for their trip to St. Jacobs the next afternoon.
    Katherine sat on her bed for a long while, holding the precious gift she had received from her mother and realizing what a sacrifice she must have made to force all those memories out of storage and onto paper. How typical of her mother to do it because she thought she could help her daughter through her own experience.
    She just never stops giving , Katherine thought as she drifted off to sleep.

5
    The holidays passed with Katherine spending more time than she wanted working through lingering anger at James and how her life had changed in just a few short months. She had promised herself that she would not allow him to spoil her holiday any more than he already had. It wasn’t always easy, but she blocked him out as best she could and kept the periods of sadness and depression well hidden.
    I’ll save it for my next counseling session with Dr. Olson.
    Christmas and Boxing Days with Andrea and her family in St. Jacobs had been busy and noisy with all three of the children home. They were eighteen, twenty, and twenty-four and even when other friends of theirs weren’t over visiting, the house felt full of life. They loved having their Aunt