The baby book.
I hugged it to me and rested my cheek against the top edge.
Also in the drawer, nestled next to the book, I saw a carefully glued and mended blue butterfly pot. There were a few small gaps where the pieces were chipped or missing, but that was OK. I knew where they were.
They were safely and securely held in my heart.
Forever.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Many thanks to Kelli Martin, my editor at Lake Union, for her support and encouragement, and to Lindsay Guzzardo, my developmental editor, who worked with me to make this the best book possible. This story involved challenging, often difficult, life events and choices, but telling Hannah’s, Ellen’s, and Gran’s story meant a great deal to me, and Lindsay’s help was amazing in bringing it together.
Lake Union provided an amazing team to help me with The Happiness In Between and The Memory of Butterflies and I’m very grateful. In addition to Kelli and Lindsay, I’d like to thank Stacy Abrams for keeping my stories free from timeline or grammatical embarrassment, Toisan Craigg for her excellent and patient proofreading, Laura Klynstra for the outstandingly gorgeous covers, and others whose names I don’t know but whose contributions to the team make it all work.
Thanks to my husband, who is my rock and support through the long hours of writing and the emotional toil of creating stories to share with readers, and sincere gratitude to my first readers, Amy, Amy, Jill, and Julie, who help me understand what works and what doesn’t.
Most of all, thanks to the readers who take the time to enter my worlds, whether along the North Carolina beaches or in rural Virginia amid the forests and dark, winding roads, and who stay awhile, and who share their own experiences and their reading enjoyment with me and others.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
How might things have been different if Hannah had gone to college after graduation, as intended? How might this have affected George Bridger’s decision and his granddaughter’s life?
What did you think when Hannah made the decision to keep the child? Did she make a rational choice? Was it the right choice? Later, she says she would’ve come forward if the child’s father had returned earlier. Do you think she would have?
Secrets were kept from Hannah by her grandparents, and Hannah, in turn, keeps secrets from her daughter. Ultimately, Hannah confesses the truth to Ellen yet, at the end of the story, she tells one more lie, deliberately and with forethought, to protect her. Would you have done the same?
Themes of love, truth, loss, and acceptance recur throughout this story, but the predominant theme is that of birth and rebirth, both literally and figuratively, in the references to metamorphosis, the Cooper cemetery, and Hannah’s clay figurines. Which recurring motifs or symbols spoke to you?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Grace Greene is an award-winning and USA Today bestselling author of women’s fiction and contemporary romance set in the bucolic reaches of her native Virginia (Kincaid’s Hope, Cub Creek, The Happiness In Between, The Memory of Butterflies) and the breezy beaches of Emerald Isle, North Carolina (Beach Rental, Beach Winds). Her debut novel, Beach Rental, and the sequel, Beach Winds, were both Top Picks by RT Book Reviews magazine. For more about the author and her books, visit www.gracegreene.com or connect with her on Twitter @Grace_Greene and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GraceGreeneBooks.