Dawn was barely teasing the horizon above the old stone Gothic church when Ivy pressed a gloved hand on the waist-high wooden gate to the church’s cemetery. It creaked in the morning silence. Somewhere in the distance a thrush called out a warning, but Ivy knew she was alone. She’d left Hampton before dawn to come here unseen. Not even her father knew she was here.
Lifting her skirts with one hand, she navigated a path along the graves. The grass whispered beneath her boots as she passed by each weathered stone. Finally she found the one she’d been looking for. Her mother’s name was carved deep into the tombstone beneath the cherubic face of a baby angel with tiny wings peeping out from above its shoulders. She clutched the bouquet of white dahlias to her chest. A deep ache welled up insi
