Beautiful prose

Quotes from "After the Leaves Fall" by Nicole Baart -

"This is not the end," Grandma said, repeating herself as if cooing to a howling newborn even though I wasn't crying. "This is not the end. This is not the end."
It seemed like a strange thing to say, but with every repetition she drove a tiny seed of hope farther into my heart. I almost didn't want it there - hope is not a promise, merely a wish, a yearning for something that may never materialize - but it sank down deep where I could not extract it and began, even in that moment, to put down fragile roots.
It was the hope that scared me most of all, and only when I had felt it tremble inside me did I begin to cry.

The farm looked as if each year of existence had slowly chipped away at the optimistic belief that everything would turn out all right in the end, that happily ever after is the bookend to every story. I realized, as I stood there, that I would never have the fairy-tale ending. But weary buildings with a lifetime of living etched in their aging walls offered their own sweet perspective. A life that seemed attainable.