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Trenton guidedroom, and I looked over my shoulder at Abby She already looked asha her, but their expressions were different from everyone else’s in the room My eyes drifted to the urn on a shelf, the one ere told held Tho froht As Jim cas under his eyes swollen and weighing down the rest of his face Surely, if it were all a cover-up, they would tell him They wouldn’t let him think his son was dead

Jilass off the side table next to his recliner and prompted him to take a drink He took a sip and then handed it back "Thanks, sis"

I sat on the floor next to hiry?"

The casserole dishes that filled nearly every inch of the dining table had barely been touched A week before, the Maddox boys would have torn through it all, but the only people eating were the kids Everyone else lulass or tumbler in their hands

Ji okay? You need anything? I haven’t seen you in a while"

I s so much like the monster Abby had made me out to be just moments before I took care of Dad, and I could see that he was comforted when I was around He kneould take care of him Abby could say what she wanted, and maybe part of it was true, but I was a Maddox, and the only thing that mattered to me was the way Ji as extended family cleared an area of the couch closest to Ji her sleeping newborn Stella was beautiful--one-half Liis, with her alht hair, and pouty lips, and one-half Thomas Her eyes still had a sheen of blue, but beneath I could tell she would have hazel green eyes like her father

Trenton squeezedat the baby Part of s, but another derieve like anyone else

"She’s beautiful," I said to my husband

"Yes, she is"

"It was a beautiful service," a cousin said to Liis The elderly wo on the navy and gray dress "She looks so pretty"

"Thank you," Liis said, holding Stella close to her chest I’d never seen folded dress socks or Mary Janes so tiny, and her diaper was covered with frilled, navy blue bloo down to whisper in her ear Liis’ eyes widened a bit, and then she relaxed, even lance of a text e, and then tears fell down Liis’s cheeks

Travis and Abby caht over, and they decided to take the conversation into the next roo off to talk

"That was … odd …" Trenton said

I grabbed my husband’s hand, pulled him to stand, and then walked down the hall and out the back door Ji Thomas’s ashes and warned he would likely wait until just before the boys left He was in no hurry to do so so final and needed a few days to breathe after the funeral

"What is it?" Trenton asked

I didn’t stop until ere under the shade tree in the farthest corner of the backyard, near the fence The boys had carved their initials into the bark; the only difference was the rass was bare in some places, already dehydrated fro in theof the cicadas took the place of the birds It was too hot to sing, too hot toon us than a reprieve But there ere, outside in a black dress and suit Beads of sweat had already forht," I said

"I know"

"You know?"

Trenton loosened his tie "So weird"