For My Daughters

by Barbara Delinsky

self.” “What might you have liked?” Ellen asked quietly. “A bouquet of flowers, a call now and then, an invitation to Palm

can do it in Maine. She says that she’s looking forward to spending time with

toast, okay, honey?”

undertaker in. During the time that took, Caroline looked alternately from Leah’s face to Ginny’s. Leah looked terrified. Caroline rounded the bed and held her. Twice, when she’d been with the prosecutor’s office, she had been present during the removal of a body. She knew what to expect. Leah didn’t. The undertaker and his assistant, even in as small a town as Downlee, were all neatly combed hair, pressed funereal suits, and polished black shoes. Beyond that, there were no similarities whatsoever to those other experiences Caroline had. By the time Ginny’s body had been covered, transferred to a stretcher on wheels,