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Back The Brighter the Light Save as PDF
Chapters (40)
  1. TITLE PAGE
  2. COPYRIGHT PAGE
  3. CONTENTS
  4. PROLOGUE RUTH
  5. CHAPTER ONE IVY
  6. CHAPTER TWO IVY
  7. CHAPTER THREE IVY
  8. CHAPTER FOUR RUTH
  9. CHAPTER FIVE IVY
  10. CHAPTER SIX IVY
  11. CHAPTER SEVEN RUTH
  12. CHAPTER EIGHT IVY
  13. CHAPTER NINE RUTH
  14. CHAPTER TEN IVY
  15. CHAPTER ELEVEN IVY
  16. CHAPTER TWELVE ANN
  17. CHAPTER THIRTEEN RUTH
  18. CHAPTER FOURTEEN IVY
  19. CHAPTER FIFTEEN IVY
  20. CHAPTER SIXTEEN DANI
  21. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN CARLOTTA
  22. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN RUTH
  23. CHAPTER NINETEEN RUTH
  24. CHAPTER TWENTY IVY
  25. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE IVY
  26. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO IVY
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE IVY
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR RUTH
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE RUTH
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX CARLOTTA
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN IVY
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT IVY
  33. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE IVY
  34. CHAPTER THIRTY EDNA
  35. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE IVY
  36. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO IVY
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE RUTH
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR IVY
  39. EPILOGUE IVY
  40. ABOUT THE AUTHOR

“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen,” Carlotta said. Her voice was clear and bright and silenced the remaining chatter. She wasn’t the kind of woman anyone ignored. Men liked the look of her, and a part of all the women wondered how different their lives would be if only they were her.

A smile tugged at the edges of Carlotta’s lips, as if she knew a naughty secret no one else did. She lowered her hand to her side, and she began to snap her fingers as her hips gently rocked to an orchestra only she could hear.

Billie Holiday’s “It Had to Be You” glided easily over her lips.

Many in the crowd clapped, each recognizing the song.

She looked left, then right, her grin widening before she began to sing.

Her voice was as smooth as the ocean on a windless day and effortlessly slid over the notes. She began to clap, encouraging the audience to follow along. The men remained entranced, and the women who’d initially looked a bit green eyed started smiling.

Ruth glanced over at a grinning Talley. “She’s amazing.”

“She’s right out of a storybook,” Talley said.

Mama had been so certain that Ruth’s figure would bloom and blossom, suggesting that one day she would be more exciting than the mainland girls. As she watched Carlotta sing, a kernel of knowing sprouted in her belly. Was her mama trying to tell her something?

Ruth often searched for pieces of herself in other women. A crooked smile, a mannerism, even a talent for drawing. But now as she ran her tongue again over her crooked tooth, her heart scurried into her throat. It sure made sense that a woman working and traveling on a showboat wouldn’t have time for a little bitty baby.

This wasn’t the first time she’d ever wondered if a guest could be the woman who’d arrived in a storm, given birth to her alone in Bungalow 28, wrapped her in pink flannel, and then vanished.

But this was the first time that little voice inside her said Miss Carlotta DiSalvo had to be her real mama.

CHAPTER TEN IVY

CHAPTER TEN

IVY

Thursday, January 20, 2022, 3:45 p.m.

By the early afternoon, Ivy had cabin fever. She had tended to Libby and the pups, cleaned out the closet in her old bedroom, and carried a dozen stackable end tables, four PLEASE WAIT TO BE SEATED signs, and six beach landscapes bordered in tarnished gold frames to the curb. She taped a new FREE sign on them and hoped it would bring magic her way.