That surprised Lily since there hadn’t been as many entries from one woman. There were usually several years between each recording, but this one was only two years after the last. She read through the page the first time, but Wyatt was still on her mind, and she was feeling a little guilty about reading it without Holly. She vowed that she’d backtrack when Holly got home and go over it again with her.

The flu epidemic made its way to Oklahoma. We lost Mama last week, and she’s been on my mind ever since. I was young when my daddy left with that other woman. We never saw him again. I’m still a little bitter, but my precious mama used to tell me that there was no room in a heart for both love and hate. She said that hate would soon eat up its half of the heart and want more and more until soon there would be no love left for anyone. I’m in mourning still, but I’m so glad I got to be with her all the way to the end when she took that final step from this world into a better one. I only hope that the flu doesn’t take any more of us. It seems like we do nothing but attend funerals these days.

“Okay, Mama.” Lily closed the book. “You might not be here to tell me in person, but you spoke loud and clear.”

She marched back downstairs. Wyatt was still sitting in the same place. He looked up at her with eyes the same clear-blue color as Holly’s. “How much longer do you think they’ll be? I was hoping that we could meet Victoria for dinner this evening.”

Lily sat down on the bottom step. “Wyatt, they know that Victoria doesn’t like them and hates being around them. They’d far rather spend time with you in a burger shop than eating in a fancy restaurant. They don’t care about museums or the Alamo. They’ve been to those places on school trips at least a dozen times. What they’d rather do is play a board game with you, or watch one of Braden’s collection of Harry Potter movies—again, with you. You could hole up in a hotel room, play games, watch movies, and order pizza brought to the room, and they’d be happy. And”—she inhaled deeply—“if you can put your phone away and not call or text Victoria every ten minutes, they’d appreciate that, too. They need your time and your love, not your money.”

“Did they tell you to say that?” Wyatt asked.