Page 99 (1/2)

The sareen, the same pointed chin and white-blond eyelashes Jude drew back instinctively

“Mo up at her “Do you want to hold her?”

Jude started to shake The cold in her heart radiated out to her fingers, and she wished she’d brought a coat “Of course ” SheMia—no, Grace—in her ar her close

Love her, she thought desperately, beginning to panic Feel so

But there was nothing She stared down at her own granddaughter, this baby who looked enough like Mia to fool anyone, and Jude felt nothing at all

Physically, Lexi healed quickly Her boobs shrank back to their normal size, and her milk dried up Within a month, a few pale silvery lines on her lower belly were the only evidence that she’d ever had a child

She felt as faded as those irl naone into that hospital, chained to a bed, and given birth to the most beautiful baby in the world She’d seen the boy she loved one last tione, and an older, wiser Lexi had come back to Purdy

Before, she’d been fragile, even hopeful; she saw that now, the way you saw a ed, broken by the terrible thing she’d done, but she’d believed in rede to prison would be an atoneiven

What a crock

Her lawyer had been right She should have fought the charges, said she was sorry and young and stupid

Instead, she’d done the right thing and been crushed She’d lost everything thathurt more than the loss of her child

In the two months since Grace’s birth, Lexi had tried to hold on to who she was, but the best parts of her were draining away Day after day, she attehter, and each new failure stripped away a piece of her, until now there was so little left she felt transparent Especially today

She was in the yard, sitting on a bench beneath a pale deni basketball The trees outside the prison were in full, vibrant bloom Every now and then a pink blossom floated over the skeletal round like an impossibly kept promise

“You look like someone who could use a boost ”

Lexi looked up The wo there had a carrot-colored crew cut and a blue kerchief tied around her shorn head A snake tattoo peeked out from her collar She was a stocky woman with powerful hands and skin that looked like someone had scrubbed at her cheeks with steel wool