“Candace—”

“Let me go to my family. Let them see to it that I’m buried next to my mother and father. Please, Sophie. I’ve asked you for nothing. Please help me to do this.”

Hot tears are sliding down my face. “But Kat . . .”

“Kat will be happy here. She already is happy here. She has you and Belinda and her sister. She already has more than I ever gave her. You can’t stop what is happening to me. I will die. Let me choose where.”

When I say nothing, she goes on. “I’ve already taken care of the documents appointing you as Kat’s legal guardian when I am deceased. I will make sure my family understands no one is to contest it, not that I think anyone will. My lawyer has already contacted the bank in Los Angeles that disperses the money from the trust. The monthly amount is substantial, Sophie. Kat will never want for anything. And I expect you to use that money in whatever way will secure for her a good home. Do you promise me you will do that?”

I nod as more tears trickle down my face.

“Say it,” she breathes.

“I promise.”

• • •

Candace leaves by private coach two weeks later, on the thirteenth of August. Belinda and I stand back from the four-horse carriage to give her as much time alone with Kat as she wants to say her final good-bye, but Candace keeps her last words to her daughter brief. I hear her tell Kat through the open carriage door that she is soon going to heaven to be with her mama and papa, just like she told her, but that she will watch over Kat all the years of her life, and that if she ever needs to talk to her or touch her, she need only go to Belinda’s peach tree and put her arms around it, and Candace will whisper to her through the branches that all is well.

Candace then motions for me to come to the open carriage door to stand by Kat.

“Miss Sophie is your mama now,” Candace says from where she reclines on the seat inside. She nods to me and I put my arm around our little girl.

“I am so proud of you, Kitty Kat. You’re such a brave girl,” Candace says to Kat. “Be happy. I love you.”

Next to me I feel Kat shudder. No words are coming out of her mouth, though. Not one. I start to bend down to encourage Kat to say farewell, but Candace interrupts my movement with three words to the nurse sitting across from her that stop me.

“Close the door.”

The nurse leans forward and pulls on the handle, and the carriage door clicks shut.

Candace doesn’t say good-bye, and I know ’tis so our dear Kat won’t ever regret not saying it, either.

The driver slaps the reins. We watch as the carriage heads down the gravel drive and then turns south. When we can no longer hear the jingle of the harnesses and the clopping of the hooves, Belinda, Kat, and I turn to go back inside the inn.