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Lucy brushed a tear away "Oh, no For many of them it's a wonderful place to be Bertha and Theresa think it's heaven Most of the woer, and they are respected Our founder, Mother Anna Lee, was a woman"

Selena ran the hot iron over her thu thumb in the lavender water "Diddid I like it here?"

Lucy shook her head "The rules always bothered you, but before you left, you'd started talking about babies You wanted one so badly You scared me with how badly you wanted it You used to say that death was the only way out for you, but you didn't want to hurt Elliot Otherwise, I think you ht in your room And then you disappeared" A snes I thoughtI thought you were free"

"I was," she answered quietly Bending, she retrieved the heavy iron and aardly lifted it back to the table, setting it down on the apron

"Where did you go? What did you do?"

"I do not know One day I simply woke up at a very special place up by the sea I was hurt badly and one"

"How did you get hurt?"

Selena shrugged "No one knows"

"What was it like up there?"

Pictures sprang to ers curled tentatively around the iron's wooden handle "There was a man" Her throat closed She couldn't say any more

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"You loved him"

Selena looked away, unable even to nod

"You shouldn't have come back"

"What choice did I have, Lucy? I was a married woman and my husband came back for me"