Halfway to forever by Karen Kingsbury

time Patsy considered using legal means to take the child from
Leslie, she was stopped by that single fact. It was a terrible inner
conflict. What was best for Grace? Life with Leslie, or life with her
grandmother?
Now, in light of Leslie's disappearing with the money and
remaining silent these past four months, the answer seemed perfectly
clear. Grace was four years old, after all, and there was no
telling what horrific things awaited her if she accompanied her
mother back to the culture of drug users and criminal types.
Patsy thought back to the time that had passed since Leslie's disappearance. The months had been filled
with pain, not just emotionally but physically. Patsy's arthritis was worse than before
120
d even simple activities were almost more than she could bear.
e weeks had become months, and still Patsy prayed. But not
til this morning, with the rich smell of blossoms hanging in the mid air, was Patsy sure it was time to act.
She took slow, painful
steps toward the house. Once inside, she began making phone
calls.
Two days later she had enough information to string together
,'.what had happened to Leslie and Grace since they left Oklahoma.
The facts acted like so many spears, impaling vatsys nean Iurtnet with each devastating blow.
As Patsy had suspected, Leslie headed for Santa Maria, but
instead of using the money to find a safe place for her and Grace,
she blew the entire amount on drags. Neighbors who lived near a
house that Leslie frequented were able to tell Patsy how wild
things had gotten. So bad, in fact, that they'd taken to watching little Grace so she wouldn't be run down in
the driveway by the constant flow of traffic and partygoers.
Something the neighbor said knocked the wind from Patsy "Leslie told us you were dead," the neighbor
woman said.
"She said you were sick and died. That's why they left Oklahoma."
It was a full minute before Patsy could speak. "She had...a lot
of money. Did she say anything about that?"
The neighbor was quick to answer. "Yes. She said you left it to her in your will."
When she hung up, Patsy felt numb from her toes to the basement of her heart. So that's how it was. The
guilt of what Leslie had done was so great that she'd simply written Patsy off.
The rest of the truth was no less easy to accept.
When the money was gone, Leslie did what she always did when reality crashed in around her. She took
Grace and disappeared, this time in an old van. Police records told the story of what happened next.
Broke and unable to buy food or water for
123 her and Grace, Leslie took to prostitution, something she'd done before. She operated out of the van,
which she parked in an abandoned field outside :own.
That's where she was when police found her. Details of those
final days were hazy, but one thing was terrifyingly clear. Leslie
was in jail and Grace had been taken into foster care. The court
intended to terminate Leslie's rights as a mother. And that meant
one thing.
Grace was about to be a ward of the court, adopted out to