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But now? Lucille wasn’t here Her loved ones were gone What was the point of continuing the fight?

A gust of wind sprayed droplets of rain from the tree’s leaves across her face Ma her head fro back and forth Maht in her throat She sensed Lucille’s presence, very real and very close So close that she called her name

"Lucille?"

There was no reply Only the calls of birds and the rustle of leaves "You old fool," sheher eyes, she still felt Lucille’s presence

Thunder rumbled softly in the distance Maed froripped the arain at the edge of the porch Stepping into theat the dewy, fresh surroundings, Mamaw remembered Lucille’s words When the hard times come, just dance

She stretched out her ar up on tiptoe, she swirled around She was alive! The night had been filled with terror, but thesun rose on another day Lucille would want her to be grateful, even joyful, in this rief and the pain

Ma the tiaze sweep over her house and the landscape she loved The old house with its ables had survived the storo inside quite yet Inside the house, the girls were still sleeping Mamaanted a few more moments alone with her memories

She took the pebbled path around the side of the house She passed the outdoor shower and near the porch spotted Harper’s raised garden beds The small stalks of starter plants were bent over fro rain and wind Some of the tiny leaves were plastered with the htened, and in time, most of them would perk up in the sunshine

She stepped out of the dappled shade into the light The sun felt warrass soaked her slippers but she ignored it, walking on toward the Cove The air was heavy with the pungent scents of pluff mud and that powerful post-rain sweetness she called the perfu cleansed, looking at the refreshed green of the sea grass She walked with ararden

Who knew her Harper had a green thu roots in the lowcountry, she thought as she took in the newly planted flowers Drops of dew hung fat and heavy on the roses that she knew had been planted especially for her Bending, she plucked the best one and cradled it in her pal its petals to the sun She brought it to her nose The bud didn’t have loried in the fact that it was the first rose she’d gathered fro cries of an osprey froreat fish hawk She’d always loved that plucky bird Putting her hand like a visor over her eyes, she spotted it, circling gracefully over the water, on the hunt This ti for breakfast

"There she is!" ca her head toward the house, she saw her granddaughters walking toward her in the light Her su floral robe, Harper in a sleek silk sheath, Carson already in her swietherMa that she and Lucille had done the right thing in bringing the three women back home to Sea Breeze for this final su woacy

Mamaw felt her heart warm in her breast and puardless of the , looking at her granddaughters, she rediscovered her purpose for living

Yes, they needed her, perhaps now more than ever Yet not, she knew, as much as she needed them

She raised her ar toward her

Mamaw opened her arms

"I’m here!"