oed in the s

but a cold clarit

oice low and dangerous.

tervene. "Savanna

ted, my gaze f

ady, seeing something in my eyes, gently s

shut, leaving m

ent breaths were

tch. Usel

ds clun

ere a blur of hushed whi

st room, claiming he w

aded their swelling bellies around th

h her new status, often making commen

my only

he way her fingers

rfect. She

ust two months old, s

he local doctor said it

limbed.

eriff's conference i

t fevers, Savannah. You're too soft on h

and again. He prescribed

ng wo

eaker, her

nging her forehead, a rising

woke to a ter

crying. She

in was

rom my throat felt lik

ome, his face

will, perhaps a punishment for my "wick

as a small, s

it like a ghost,

ar the silence of the nursery,

en working on a new

r the freshly turned earth,

of pal

lanket. The one s

mmered agai

ds trembling, a

loose, recent

t something s

led i

as L

pped in her blanke

white coffin in t

he garden like a

sob esc

unched on th

ng me, a strange, almost

, Savannah?" she as

olding my daughter's

for babies who die so young. Return them to

ards the main house. "

hter in the backyard

rp and sickening,

ustom. This was

ing mo