{"product_id":"2940152915310","title":"Out of the Darkness","description":"\u003cp\u003eAfter a visit to the Rehab Center in Connecticut to see her beloved\u003cbr\u003eMother, Willa decided it was time to take a bigger look at her life.\u003cbr\u003eSince last May and the shocks of the death of her younger sister, Addie,\u003cbr\u003eand the serious stroke her mother had suffered, Willa had been able to\u003cbr\u003etake only one day at a time.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOn the plus side, Willa had seen how hard her Mother was working to\u003cbr\u003eget better. The staff at the Rehab Center said they were very pleased\u003cbr\u003ewith her progress. It had been so disheartening to see that after five\u003cbr\u003emonths she still needed a walker. At least her speech was almost back\u003cbr\u003eto normal. But when, if ever, would she be back to her previous level of\u003cbr\u003etennis, for instance?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt was still hard to take the fact that her Dad was still spending so much\u003cbr\u003etime in China. How long he’d be there depended on how soon the\u003cbr\u003ebranch company he had set up would be operating on its’ own. It\u003cbr\u003eseemed to take so long. Was Willa just being unrealistic?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eShe didn’t see much of her older brother, Danny, because he was at\u003cbr\u003eWest Point, and he made huge efforts to get down to see their mother as\u003cbr\u003eoften as he could. She smiled to herself, thinking how she had bugged\u003cbr\u003ehim when she was younger. It all paid off, though. He expected\u003cbr\u003enothing but the best, and consequently she was very competitive in\u003cbr\u003esoftball, tennis, and skiing. That certainly gave her an advantage at The\u003cbr\u003eDay School in Milwaukee.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eReflecting on her present home life at her Grandmother Nordbergs’\u003cbr\u003ehouse, really an estate, brought another small smile. Danny had given\u003cbr\u003eher the name ‘The Ice Lady’ because he said she had no warm feelings\u003cbr\u003eat all.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWilla had been in full agreement when she first arrived in Milwaukee.\u003cbr\u003eBut slowly things seemed to be changing for the better. Read to find\u003cbr\u003eout how Willa and her Grandmother manage to work out a truce!\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eUpon arrival last year, an immediate comfort to Willa was the presence\u003cbr\u003eof the housekeeper, Mrs. Werner, and her granddaughter, Polly, age ten.\u003cbr\u003eMrs. Werner, a Nordberg relative, had been brought over from Germany\u003cbr\u003eby her Grandfather, after her husband, her only son, and his wife, had\u003cbr\u003ebeen killed in a horrible crash on the Autobahn. Polly came several\u003cbr\u003eyears later. Her maternal grandparents were not able to care for her.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMrs. Werner was a wonderful cook! Willa hadn’t asked if her\u003cbr\u003eGrandmother cooked, but she had never seen her in the kitchen with an\u003cbr\u003eapron on. Her Grandmother was paying the tuition for both Willa and\u003cbr\u003ePolly at The Day School. Willa felt pleased when she looked back to\u003cbr\u003ethe ‘old’ Polly. After Willa came she just seemed to open up. Most\u003cbr\u003elikely because someone younger was around.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFinally, she had to do an assessment of school. After all, it did consume\u003cbr\u003ethe majority of her time. Academically, she knew it was tops. Her\u003cbr\u003emind went back to being ‘The New Girl’. It had been tough at first.\u003cbr\u003eAmy Wu, still her best friend, was a friend right away.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs for the majority of her female classmates, she had seemed to be the\u003cbr\u003eenemy. Now, Willa was not unaware that she was an attractive person.\u003cbr\u003eShe had thick blond hair, like her mother’s. And she had big iceblue\u003cbr\u003eeyes, just like her grandmother’s.Her slim build spoke to her\u003cbr\u003eparticipation in sports. So the girls might have been worried about their\u003cbr\u003eboyfriends?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWilla didn’t know the answer to that. But she smiled thinking how\u003cbr\u003eWoody Reston came into her life at that bad time. And was still there!\u003cbr\u003eThere are many adventures and experiences still ahead. You won’t\u003cbr\u003ewant to miss these adventures, scary times, and the good times.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Marcia Ward","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47178997694704,"sku":"2940152915310","price":4.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940152915310_p0.jpg?v=1764025853","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940152915310","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}