Chapter 96

"Mama, tell us," Faith said, her voice quiet as if speaking too loudly would wake the dead. "Tell us about Jaris, and Julia—and Carey. We want to know."

Cordia drew in a deep breath through her nose and nodded. "But not here." Silently, she walked out of the little cemetery and over to some trees. She kept walking until she'd reached a pond, and Hope imagined this was the one she used to run to whenever Jaris and Carey were chasing her. Finding a shady spot beneath a tree, Cordia fanned out her skirts and lowered herself to the ground, her daughters doing the same. And then, she began to tell them a story of the ones she'd loved, and the ones she'd lost, during the war.