Chapter 9Kelsey stood in the backroom of the church, staring up at a stained glass window depicting the Ascension. She was praying for the first time since her mother’s illness. Nothing coherent about the prayer, just a stream of random pleas under her breath.
She was shaking.
She looked down at her floor-length white strapless gown, with its beaded bodice, lace detail, and long, swooshing train. The sort of dress she’d spent hours staring at in a catalogue when she was little. Imagining the day she’d be grown up enough, lucky enough to wear it.
Lucky.
It had been four weeks since her father had come to retrieve her from Pete’s Goods. She’d been sitting in a chair by the register, trembling with rage as Rex puttered behind the counter, whistling, his revolver in one hand. She imagined
