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“What did you say?” Miles asked,to stand by his son

“She can’t get to know … her daughter unless I agree,” Jude said, stalling now

“What did you say?” Zach asked the question again

Jude felt the rapid beating of her heart “I’m scared,” she said softly It was perhaps the most vulnerable she’d felt in years She was out of control and uncertain and afraid Usually she hid those emotions away from Zach and Miles, boxed theth

She moved toward Zach, who had never been afraid when his sister was alive, and never lonely, but now she saw both of those emotions in his eyes “I don’t want to do it,” Jude said, “but I will ”

“You will?” Zach said quietly

“For Grace and Mia,” Jude said, gazing up at her son “And for you ”

Twenty-five

So

Grace and Ariel were on the sofa, curled up in Grace’s favorite fuzzy yellow blanket The cabin lights were low and it was dark outside, so she couldn’t really see her wristAriel loved to hum

Grace couldn’t tell tiot to stay up this long after dinner, and the movie on the TV had all kinds of bad words in it, and no one cared that she was hearing it Or that she saw souy in the head

No one was paying attention to Grace at all Daddy and Nana and Papa had been whispering together all night They’d made a bunch of phone calls and looked at Daddy’s school calendar about twenty times Grace d

idn’t knohat they were talking about, but Nana kept snapping at Papa, saying things like, I knohat you think, Miles, and, What will I say to her? Maybe I’ve made a mistake …

Papa said it was too late for that because Lexi knows and the loud whispering had begun again

“Who’s Lexi?” Grace asked, looking up from the sofa