Ashes of a Vow

light green plastic, and it makes

ts a blanket over Seraphina's knees without being asked. "First time's the worst. Not beca

liquid hanging from its hook, and thinking it looks

therine's. Back by evening. He had not been at breakfast. Her mother had asked, in a low voice, whether she wanted company, and

gs, then settles into a dul

hat reads a paperback with her eyes closed, as if the words are a kind of prayer. Rain runs down the windo

too fast, and the room til

wobbly. Is there some

l ma

e is kind, and there is no mockery in it. "I

s her coat. She walks out into t

-

heroics. But there is a small errand tucked in her handbag, fold

ther's

er ear. Listen, he would say. That's time. It keeps going whether you like it or not. Four months ago, the week before the accident

ure chest. A little bell rings as she steps inside. The air smells of lilies and polished wood. Glass

the counter when s

raid of a room. Seraphina knows it at once. She has heard it on the telephone in the h

so cleanly it seems to float, and her dark hair falls in a smooth curtain to her shoulders. A little gi

vest hovers close,

back from the setter. Mr. Whitmore asked for it to be reserv

a stops

Whi

oat with her pulled-back hair and her tired face, a woman who has just spent th

n the mirror. For a heartbeat they hold there, very still. Then she smiles. It i

says, turning.

vie

pale. Are

m f

been watching Seraphina's face with s

darling

ad face. Like when you rea

y habit and backbone, and it is a child who nearly undoes her. She

uietly, "you might be rig

rabbit, serious as a judge. "You can hold him if you

Its fur is worn thin from loving.

hanged in her face. The polish is still there. But for a second,

sit with us at the hospital. I'm so grateful for him. He's been-" A sma

s Seraphina. "He's nev

enly. Vivienne'

murs. "I supp

rs his throat. "M

stone the size of a thumbnail, and it burns in the light like something alive. She holds it up against her

a's hear

ean

ells anyone, but I know." Vivienne lowers her voice, almos

for eight months and never once been told the day his sister died. And thi

na sets down the rabbit on the glass counter. H

salesman. Her voice is thin. "Vale.

, quickly, at Vivienne, and then b

ivienne has put the necklace down and is smoothing her daughter's hair, not l

th a small velvet bag a

to give you this when you came. He said it was to go to you and no one else." He lowers his voice.

ne e

shifts inside it. Her name is on the front in her father's slanting hand

t. She holds it fla

walks to the door without looking at Vivienne, a

of slate. Seraphina leans against the cold brick of t

with a paper tag tied to it by a loop of

nor. Th

, as though he had hesi

ve me

eam coat stands very still, watching her through t