Learning she’d had a child and that the baby had died was almost too much to bear. Snow flurries dotted the air, her shoes crunching the icy particles as she pulled her coat around her and rushed to her car. Freezing, she flipped on the defroster and heater, giving them a minute to warm up as she tried to absorb the shock. A prison bus left, hauling a group away just as she pulled from the parking lot. The desolate wilderness of the mountains passed by in a blur. By the time she reached the outskirts of Slaughter Creek, she’d hoped to be calmer, but her emotions were on a roller coaster. She spotted the pond where children and families gathered to skate. Still reeling from her encounter with Ms. Lettie, she parked in front of the pond and sat hunched inside her coat. Two mothers helped their little girls tie their skates, then led them out onto the pond and stopped to show them how to balance.
