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"She turned her back on ht you sent me away"

"I came back for you"

"She didn’t," Nora said

"That was her loss, and ain"

Nora didn’t speak And into the silent void of her pain, Søren prayed aloud over the phone

"‘Therefore once for all this short coiven to you--love and do what you will If you keep silent, keep silent by love, if you speak, speak by love, if you correct, correct by love, if you pardon, pardon by love--let love be rooted in you, and frorow’"

"Amen," Nora said "That’s beautiful Whose prayer is that?"

"Saint Augustine’s"

Eleanor smiled "Monica’s sinner son"

"Monica’s sainted son," Søren said, ever the pedant, ever the priest

Nora told Søren she loved hi back to the cottage

She hadn’t slept well for teeks Now she surrendered to her exhaustion and slept through the night When she woke up, she knew exactly what do with her mother’s Saint Monica ht’s iven her and Nico sanctuary--she would return the kindness She packed and dressed and put her things in the car

She drove all day, leaving Bavaria far behind her Her mother had been born in Germany and Germany was part of Nora’s ancestry, her past Now she looked to the future

At dusk she finally passed through Marseille At nightfall she stood in front of a French country house that stood on dusty soil in the rape vines

She knocked on the door

"Sanctuary?" she said to Nico when he opened the door

He narrowed his eyes at her