Love's Tangled Web by Donna Taylor

Chapter 273

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Before Ellie’s eyes, a sea of mourners dressed in black surrounded her. Some were weeping, some were lamenting, and some were offering comfort.

“Ellie, your dad’s ashes are here. You need to greet him,” urged a distant relative. But she felt as if her feet were stuck to the ground, unable to move or cry.

With her eyes stinging and swollen, she looked into the distance, seeing the relatives crying around her dad’s urn. Their cries cut through the air, bringing shared sorrow even to the ones who weren’t related.

Aaron came near, holding Harold’s urn, and said, “Dad, we’re home.” Each step he took toward Ellie made her heart shudder and her breath catch.

Lacey and Diana stood beside Ellie, quietly supporting her. In just two days, grief had deeply etched itself into Aaron’s face, making him look almost unrecognizable. He stopped in front of Ellie.

Bring your dad inside,” the officiant

hoarse whisper, Ellie pleaded, “Aaron, can I hold him for a

hold up the ceremony; we have a lot

on Aaron. “Aaron, I need

word, Aaron freed one arm and gently wrapped it around his sister, who

In her mind, she imagined him standing in the wheat field, smiling and beckoning her, saying, “Little

strong farmer lifted his young daughter onto his

his leg, no one had lifted her like

years that followed, each time she visited, Harold would lean on his crutch by the door, looking for her. On

let go. From now on, her dad could no longer walk her to the station or wave goodbye with his

held his crying sister tightly, her body shaking like a leaf in the wind, and declared, “Maybe this is a kind of freedom

called two relatives to gently pull Ellie away, but she held on tightly to Harold’s ashes, her head buried in Aaron’s shoulder,

asked for Joanna to

her head. Joanna stood a little way off, looking older than her years to the events of the past few days. Ellie felt a sharp pain in her

due