Three lives. Three broken heartsâ¦
Piper loved her mommy. So when she loses her, her world is confused and sad. But she has Rachel now. She wonât leave her as well, will she?
Rachel finds out she has a five-year-old sister on the same day that she is told her mother has died. Having been in foster care for years, she never really knew her mom, but she knows for sure she doesnât want the same thing for Piper. She knows she has to take care of her â but how?
Mary never even got to see her baby. They took it away as soon as she gave birth. And the hole in her heart has never healed. So when she meets Rachel and Piper, two lost girls looking for a family, her broken heart skips a beatâ¦
Our Fragile Hearts
Buffy Andrews
Copyright
HQ
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd.
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
First published in Great Britain by HQ in 2016
Copyright © Buffy Andrews 2016
Buffy Andrews asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the authorâs imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.
E-book Edition © May 2016 ISBN: 9781474054881
Version date: 2018-07-02
BUFFY ANDREWS
is an author, blogger and journalist.
She leads an award-winning staff at the York Daily Record/Sunday News, where she is Assistant Managing Editor of Social Media and Engagement.
In addition to her writing blog, Buffyâs Write Zone, she maintains a social media blog, Buffyâs World.
She is also a newspaper and magazine columnist and writes middle-grade, young adult and womenâs fiction.
She lives in southcentral Pennsylvania with her husband, Tom; two sons, Zach and Micah; and wheaten cairn terrier, Kakita. She is grateful for their love and support and for reminding her of whatâs most important in life.
Sometimes our heart breaks into a million pieces and we think it will never be whole again. But then a hand reaches out and steadies us and we know with all certainty that our fragile heart will heal.
I thank the hands that have steadied me during my darkest hours, the arms that have carried me when I was too weak to walk and the hearts that have saved me from brokenness and despair.
To wonderful friends who fill my life with love and laughter: Stacey Zambito, Shonna Cardello, Laura Schreiber, Renee Maderitz and Lilli Horn.
I love you girls!
Prologue
Mary
June 30, 1957
I hate Mother. I hate Father. Theyâre sending me away. They said I brought shame to the family, that no decent man will want me. They have forbidden me to see Teddy. He doesnât know Iâm carrying his child. He thinks I donât love him. My life is over.
Love, Mary Katherine
***
I lay in my hospital bed trying to remember. I remembered the cold, sterile delivery room and the doctors and nurses dressed in white and wearing masks. I remembered seeing the delivery table and the bassinet, the sterile towels and drapes and rubber gloves. I even remembered seeing the scissors and string the doctor would use to tie my babyâs umbilical cord.
But I didnât remember seeing my baby.
I didnât even know if Iâd had a boy or a girl. The nurse had given me something for my pain, and when I woke up I was in this hospital room with another mother who had given birth to a stillborn. I listened to her cry for the child sheâd lost. And she listened to me cry for the child I had but would never see.