The week after the follow-up piece aired was unlike anything Ruby had ever experienced.
The garden was overrun with visitors. People came in droves, not just to see the flowers, but to see her. To thank her. To tell her that her story had changed their lives. Some came with tears in their eyes, clutching photographs of loved ones they'd lost to abuse. Others came with hope, their faces bright with the promise of a new beginning. Some came with nothing at all, just their own broken hearts and a desperate need to believe that healing was possible.
Ruby stood at the garden gates every morning, greeting them, listening to their stories, offering what comfort she could. She hugged strangers who sobbed on her shoulder. She held hands with women who had been through horrors she couldn't imagine. She looked into the eyes of men and women who had lost everything and told them, with absolute conviction, that they could rebuild.
It was exhausting and overwhelming and beautiful.
