Chapter 106

Agonizing over correspondence to both Lola's aunt and the telegram she would send took up most of the rest of the weekend, and with just three days of school that week before Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, Hope decided to take her time and make sure the messages said exactly what she intended them to before she sent them. It seemed like the most intelligent way to go about sending a missive.

That, and she also didn't want to say anything to her mother yet. It wasn't that she didn't think Cordia would understand, but she thought it would be difficult for her mother to hear, that she might try to talk her out of it. Every night since she'd visited Lola, Hope had lain awake in her bed, thinking about the possibilities, the adventures that might lay before her. To have her mother snuff her dreams out before they'd even had a chance to take flight was a fear that kept Hope's intentions secreted away from the one person who might tell her she couldn't do go forward with her plan.