Shine (13 page)
Authors: Kate Maryon
there’s no place like home…
I
t’s three o’clock and my mum and Mandy still haven’t stopped sobbing. And I think me and Holly are still in shock, we just keep on staring at each other and giggling. I truly can’t believe that I have a real-live sister in the world and that she’s sitting right next to me, eating a second helping of cake. We’re holding hands. We’re sisters.
I look over at my mum and notice that she’s shining again from the inside. Just like in that photo of her and Auntie Cass on their ponies. Right now, she’s sitting close to Mandy, munching her cake and sipping champagne, wearing crazy chef clothes, and she’s not even
bothered. She doesn’t care how she looks. There’s not a shiny thing or diamond in sight, yet she looks like she’s been plugged in to some source of shiny happiness.
And I’m shining too. I can feel happiness streaming out of me like a fountain, filling the room and lighting up my green, green eyes. And now I know for sure that Matilda was wrong and that all the hurts and tight little scars in the world can be melted by love.
So I laugh out loud. My mum has found her friend, and Mandy has found my mum. Max has found his brain, and Isla has found the courage to tell her family what she really wants. As for my sister, Holly? Well, by the way she’s hugging me right now, I’m pretty sure she’s found her heart. And me? I’ve found a precious family that I never knew I had and here I am, totally swimming in love.
I click my ruby slippers three times and in my very best American Dorothy accent, I giggle, “There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home, there’s no place like home.”
T
hank you Daniel, for all the love, support, delicious dinners, toasty fires, beautiful garden, house building, enthusiasm and listening ears throughout the entire process of creating
Shine
. Thank you Jane, Tim, Sam, Joe and Ben for your enthusiasm, encouragement and patience and for being so wonderfully shiny yourselves! I’m so proud of you all! Thank you my lovely sister Susie, for celebration champagne and heart-to-hearts and constant sisterly love. Thank you my lovely friend Dawne, for our friendship and your million-times daily emails full of love and support and for being my tip top grown-up reader! Thank you Paul, for always believing in me, always loving me. Thank you all my little readers: Alice, Ruby, Autumn, Louis,
Bryany, Bay and Darcey and anyone else I’ve forgotten (sorry!) for your helpful feedback. Thank you Dao, Amida, Benita and Claudia for all your love, patience and encouragement with
Shine
whilst on retreat and for lending me your names! Thank you Sophie, Clara, Roseanna and Michelle for all the horsey help. Thank you Sarah Cottle and staff and all the lovely children of Sark School for welcoming me into your world and Kristina, for hot chocolate and Sark gossip.
Thank you a million times over wonderful Eve, my agent, for believing in me and for all your support, care and loveliness. And thank you wonderful Rachel, my editor, for agreeing with Eve and for guiding me so tenderly through the whole process of bringing
Shine
into being. I’m so happy! Thank you Rose, Kate, Tom and Heike, from HarperCollins, for all your hard work and enthusiasm and for diligently working through all the stuff that has to be done before words on a screen become a book on a shelf.
Thank you Adam, for your love, commitment and support in helping me to unwrap my very own inner shine.
I feel so blessed. xxx
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First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins
Children’s Books
2010
HarperCollins
Children’s Books
is a division of HarperCollins
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FIRST EDITION
Shine
Text copyright © Kate Maryon 2010
The author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
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EPub Edition © FEBRUARY 2010 ISBN: 978-0-007-35196-1
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