A Scent of Gardenias — Elena M

When you try to control love, it will leave those who love you with fear and anxiety, and eventually suffocate them. You cannot enslave love, for if you do, you will become a slave to your own misgivings and neuroses. Sarah often wondered what happened to John, and if he ever thought of her. He was her only childhood friend...her first crush...her first love. He promised to keep in touch and always love her when she had to move away. Now she felt they were empty words that people did not intend to keep. They bandied them about as conversation fillers and nothing more. This is a story of how one woman finds the power within herself to rise above a lifetime filled with ridicule, loss and abuse; and, a courage to love again.