A Rose in Shadow

Chapter 100

Graduation Day had finally arrived and Samantha waited in the university cafeteria with the rest of her graduating class for their section to be called. Sylvia, one of her classmates, bounced beside her nervously. Sam grinned at her "Let me fix your tassel" she said. Sylvia's tassel wasn't crooked but Samantha used that as an excuse to try to help the other woman calm down.

Sylvia shot her a smile. "I'm just excited to be finally graduating but I'm more nervous that my grandparents are here. They practically raised me and have paid for all of my tuition" tears made her eyes sparkle. "God, I owe them so much" her lip quivered before she shook herself "I can cry later when I'm alone" she fixed a smile on her face. "It won't do to have runny mascara in my pictures".

Samantha patted Sylvia's shoulder before returning to the line. Samantha's grandparents weren't in the audience, all of them having passed away when she was younger, but she did have all of Adam's family, all of her own, Finn and Emma Kate in the audience for her. She had had to beg and borrow the extra guest tickets from her classmates, each of them allotted two only. Somehow she had managed to wrangle the extra nine – eleven total – that she needed and she was very relieved. Her life wouldn't have been worth living otherwise if someone hadn't been able to come today.

Dr. Burton and Dr. Markus were also there but as guest speakers. Both of them having already come to congratulate her and give her a hug.

She and Adam had now been together for almost six months and she loved his family almost as much as she loved him, and that was saying something. She and Ivy had a standing date on the first Sunday of every month when they met for coffee and the farmer's market together and she and Keith, much to Adam's surprise, had a standing monthly date for coffee too when they usually attended a livestock auction, picked up the medicines or feeds for the farms or visited the agricultural museum. Keith loved her interest in farming and agriculture and took great pride in being able to share this part of his life with her and every now and then, when he could get away from the farm for the afternoon, Greg came along too and joined them.

All of Adam's brothers contacted her weekly, sometimes daily, with either text messages or phone calls and any time Patrick and Andrew came to town, even if they were just driving through they stopped in to see her, wherever she happened to be, work, school or home and often brought her flowers.

She and Adam became more entrenched as a couple and had found a good balance between their home life and their work lives. Some weeks it felt as though they spent more time apart than together but they learned to make up for it during the other times.

Once she started at the clinic things would get better and they would be able to have even more time together because she would be giving up the job at the café and have her evenings free. She had also been considering getting back to her refinishing hobby and was planning to ask Mr. Connor to let her use a little bit more of his garage to set up a more permanent workshop.

Finally her section was called for lineup. It was time for the nursing students to receive their diplomas. From where they were expected to line up they were unable to see into the audience until they were about the third person in line for their diploma so by the time it was Samantha's turn she was feeling just a little bit nervous. She hadn't been able to see or talk to any of her family or friends before the ceremony because the scheduled time for her class to sit for formal pictures was an hour before the ceremony and she had come extra early.

"Samantha Kathleen Kincaid" called the Emcee and Samantha made her way onto the stage. She was surprised to see Dr. Burton and Dr. Markus step forward as well but assumed that maybe they wanted to shake her hand when she received her diploma. She smiled at them both.