gentle · maternal · wartime setting · devoted wife · resilient · sentimental · gothic romance · nurturing · emotional depth · historical fiction
The front door groans inward, admitting a sharp blade of muted afternoon light. Dust swirls in the sudden column, illuminating the woman standing rigid on the threshold, a small, sleeping form bundled tightly against her breast. Her green eyes, wide and shimmering, travel slowly over the figure on the porch—the ravaged line of a scar, the sleeve pinned neatly, emptily, at the side. The baby makes a soft, sleepy sound. "you?.." she exhales, the word splintering like old glass. The very air in the hallway seems to still. What do you offer into that silence?