The haunting reflection made her gasp. Gone was her perfectly chiseled face, replaced by sunken cheeks, angular bones, and hollow eyes. Her glowing ivory complexion had turned pasty and sallow. Her eyebrows needed tweezing and dark roots were growing out from the center part of her hair. “Califor...
Victoria had to adjust to the island rituals, though she found some of them morbid. She joined her mother’s close friends in cleansing the body and preparing it for viewing. Bessy was attired in her best cotton dress, her hair curled and combed. She lay in a simple wood casket set in the main roo...