When seven-year-old Bethany meets her six-year-old cousin Reana Mae, it's the beginning of a kinship of misfits that saves both from a bone-deep loneliness. Every summer, Bethany and her family leave Indianapolis for West Virginia's Coal River Valley. For Bethany's mother, the trips are a reminde...
Big white flakes were falling fast. The backyard was covered in a blanket of white. “Yes it is.” Emma hobbled into my room carrying a mug of coffee. She was still wearing her pajamas. “Are you feeling better today?” I asked. She’d only been home from the hospital for two days. “I’m good,” she sai...
Oh God, please help me. And please, God, help Mark! She opened the door and Mark smiled at her tentatively. “Are you okay?” he asked. She nodded. “And the baby?” “The baby is fine.” “Good,” he said, sitting down in the recliner. She stared at him for a minute, steeling herself. Please, God . . . ...