PROLOGUE:

   Dust flew around the car, rising like mist above a lake on a cool morning. The tall trees along the driveway cast shadows below, shading the couple who were becoming visible among the settling dirt. 

   The woman clutched a bundle in her arms, holding it with all her strength. She stared into the distance, desperation tracing lines across her face. The man knelt in the driveway, his hands clasped, his face streaked with tears. 

   “It’s all my fault.” His whisper was barely audible, the breeze threatening to blow it away. 

   “Don’t say that. She’ll come back.” The woman stretched out a hand and rested it on his shoulder. The grief that hung about her as a shroud began to lighten as she tried to comfort her husband. 

   “No, she’s gone forever.” He shook his head. 

   The woman’s eyes burned as she looked down at the bundle. “We can’t give up now. We have to push on, one day a time. We have to be strong.” 

   “I don’t think I can.” 

   “If not for Charlotte, for Lauren.” The woman rocked the bundle.

   The man slowly stood, like a stranger wearied from a long journey. He wrapped an arm around his wife and looked into the folds of the blankets. Cradled within was a baby with wide brown eyes, splotchy red cheeks and an almost mournful expression. 

   “I will find the strength. For you and for Wren.”