“Forgive you?” Lily reached for her mother’s hand and clung to it. “I need you to forgive me. I value your opinion so highly, Mama. Our camaraderie. I have missed that so, so much. I’m so very sorry I kept it from you all this time, that I—that I made it more important than our family. That I—”

“Shh.” Mama wrapped her firmly in her arms, tucking Lily’s head under her chin. “No more time wasted on regrets and anger. If wrongs have been done, they are forgiven. They do not matter. Not now, when I am so keenly aware of how much this family means to me, and how fragile it all is.” She reached up and smoothed back a piece of Lily’s hair. “We mustn’t let such things come between us anymore. Not anger, not secrets, not fear. They will not rob us of the life God has given us.”

“What about the life He’s taken away?” Lily let her eyes fall again.

“Sweet girl.” Mama gave her a squeeze. “Something I am realizing anew is that this life isn’t ours to begin with. We don’t own it as we do a shoe. It is always His—His gift to us. Our purpose ought to be in giving it back to Him moment by moment. In knowing that losing this life isn’t defeat. It’s victory.” She pressed a kiss to Lily’s temple. “If we really believe what we say we do, then we ought to know this life on earth isn’t the goal. We can’t cling to it. Your sister . . .”

Lily pressed a hand to her mouth to try to hold back a sob.

Mama drew in a long breath, no doubt her own attempt at the same. “We will miss her every day. But she has the reality now—this life is just a painting, a replica of what He has in store. I’m trying to focus on that. I know so well how far my art is from the beauty of God’s creation. It’s just a shadow, a sorry attempt to capture on canvas what He does every day in this world. So imagine what it must be like for her now, in a place of which this is but the imitation.”

Lily shook her head. Not in denial of the truth her mother gave voice to, but because she simply couldn’t think in that way right now. Perhaps Ivy had victory, but it felt like defeat to Lily. The loss was hers, even if her sister had gained. “I just don’t know how to live this life without her.”

“But you do.” At the note of passion in Mama’s tone, Lily lifted her gaze again and found the strangest smile on her mother’s lips. “You’re the one who has taught me this.”

“What?”