white stones of a thousand lives. Kailee led her children by the hand, navig

adstone, tucked beneath th

yers. A Lov

e cold, carved letters of her mother's name. She gently wi

ce thick. "I'm back. And I brough

uncharacteristically solemn. They each held a sin

of the headstone. "Grandma, it's Leo," he said, his voice clear an

own rose next to his. "Hi, Grandma,"

ace, silent and hot. She told her mother everything-about the struggles of the last

sting on the cool stone. "For Leo and Lily. And for me.

d the branches above, and for a moment, Kailee felt a sense of peace she hadn't experien

's hands. It was time to go. Time

man standing a short dist

et cemetery. His hair was more silver than gray, and his face held a complex expression-a mi

e warmth in her face vanished

and Lily behind her, her bod

cing a stiff, uncomfortable smile onto h

erling. Her bi

and her sick mother to start a new

ger, sensing the immediate and hostile shift in his mother's demeanor

ce more damning than any accusa

fury. He gestured vaguely toward the headstone, attempting a

ed Kailee's lips. The hypocrisy was

didn't want it to be here, not in this place

her children's hands and

into her path,

ked, his voice laced with a false s

resentment, snapped. A storm that had been b