Read Online The Beginning of Always by Sophia Mae Todd - Free Book Online Page A

evening, everyone.” His voice rang through the room, deep and husky with an almost hypnotic tone to it. The edge of an accent long forgotten was present in every word.
    Alistair paused as he waited for the audience noise to die down. The clapping crescendoed to a climax, then tapered off until the room grew silent enough for a dropped pin to ring. More than a few chairs squeaked as their patrons shifted, listening in rapt attention.
    “Thank you, Director Chandler, for those more than generous words.” Alistair turned and raised an upturned palm in the direction of the director, who was now standing behind him and to his right. A smattering of applause came, and the director gave a shallow bow. Then, Alistair slowly ran his large hands up and down the lectern’s wooden sides before he continued in a low, even voice.
    “Today we’re here to raise funds to restructure and build out this building on Fifty-Seventh Street in order to prepare it for conversion to a family home. I can stand here and talk to you about the costs and challenges facing this project, tell you how your generous contribution tonight will help make a difference in lives for years to come. I can tell you how Blair Properties has pledged to match dollar for dollar every single donation given today, because I could tell you our hopes in allowing this building to become something of great worth and value.
    “But I’m not going to do that. Instead, I’m going to spend this time explaining to you the difference a family home can make. The impact you’ll have and the real good you will do if you decide to help this cause.
    “As some of you may know, I grew up in a small rural town in Michigan. The town always had limited resources, but a lot of love amongst the residents. The Main Street was a traditional Main Street with a drugstore and a post office, but it also held the office of the town doctor. The town doctor was a great man who could have worked in any hospital in any zip code in America, but decided to stay in our little corner of the world to serve the residents. And serve he did. He treated everyone, from my own bout of chickenpox to elders’ heart attacks and diabetes.
    “Everyone in town saw our doctor as invincible, thought that he could do no wrong and no wrong would come by him. That’s what happens in life when you grow up in a small town: time moves slower, and the evils and stresses of the outside world seem fewer and further in between. So when our good doctor’s wife was diagnosed with stage-III breast cancer, it seemed to be the worst kind of irony. The doctor who could cure everyone suddenly found himself outmatched, underfunded, and devoid of resources. He charged modest fees and, while comfortable, didn’t have the means to tackle this incomprehensible monster of a disease.
    “Our town pulled together and raised enough money to send the doctor’s wife to Chicago for treatment. It took a while and it was a struggle since we were but a small farming community. But eventually enough was gathered to pay for flights and hotel also, but only for the wife and the doctor. They had two children who weren’t able to go with them. There was no family house at the hospital, and there was little anyone could do. The children didn’t even receive a choice; they simply knew they would not be with their mother during the first round of treatments, nor the ones after that. In fact, neither had the opportunity to consistently travel to Chicago to be with their mother over the years that a cancer fight can take.
    “Last I checked, we weren’t in Michigan, and Manhattan is anything but a small farming town. But in the same spirit of collaboration and community, I hope that you can understand that we have a responsibility as residents of this great city to help the families around us, and to help the families who travel the world over for the help they are desperately looking for.
    “We live in New York City, the greatest city on earth.