Great and awful moments in life are sometimes like ghosts; you don’t look for them and you certainly don’t expect them, but suddenly they’re just there, staring you in the face.
Landis Blakely McPherson or “Lannie” as she was known by nearly everyone in the small town of Moss Bay, Alabama, led a well ordered life. Many envied her spirit and the way she moved through life with a certain amount of grace and purpose. But, just like the lazy current of Bayou Bell, meandering along its undisturbed course, something large was about to plop into the water and right in front of her. And, that something would forever change the course of her life.

The remnants of sleep still sounded in Lannie’s voice as she called out in response to the persistent knock on the door. “I’m coming, I’m coming.”
Feeling weary and drained, Lannie unhurriedly tied the cotton robe around her slender waist, rubbed her swollen eyes and made her way to the door. Peering through the beveled glass of the sidelight, she saw the distressed face of her younger half-sister, Mindy, and her two-year old niece, Sadie. Yanking the door open, Lannie called out. “Mindy! What on earth is the matter?”
“Keep away from me,” Mindy snarled. “Here, take her. I can’t take it anymore. He’s dead and it’s all your fault!” Mindy thrust Sadie forward unceremoniously. “She’s his child! If Cade had left you like I asked him to, he’d be working for my father now and still alive; we’d be a family!” She screamed out in frustration, tears streaming down her cheeks. “I can’t stand to look at her anymore…either of you!”
Lannie stared blankly at her sister for one horrifying moment as she tried to filter the information through her foggy mind. The words she’s his child swirled around in her head. A tremor ran through her, snapping her out of the paralyzing trance. With a slow movement Lannie lifted Sadie into her arms and stepped inside the house. After placing the little girl on the sofa with a book she returned to her sister, quietly pulling the door shut behind her.
Whap! Lannie’s hand struck hard across Mindy’s cheek. “How dare you do this to Sadie!” Whap! “And how dare you do this to me! You make this accusation now… now that Cade isn’t here to defend himself!”
Mindy stumbled backward, rubbing her inflamed cheek. She turned and fled down the steps toward her car. Yanking the car door open, she pulled out an overnight case and flung it in the shrubbery. The case popped open and the contents spilled out, hanging on the branches. In one swift movement, Mindy jumped behind the wheel of her car and sped off.
Solemnly, Lannie watched as a wisp of gray smoke vanished in the air behind her sister’s squealing tires. Stepping down the porch steps on trembling legs she began gathering the scattered items of Sadie’s young life. Colorful and delicate pinks and greens, yellows and blues, the colors of innocents and childhood draped all across the dew drenched hedges and over the lawn. A tight knot formed in her throat as she stared at the mocking testament of betrayal in front of her.
Sadie’s suitcase was clutched tightly in her hand as Lannie climbed the steps, hovering near the door. With a deep breath she tried to gather her strength to face this new challenge. A deep trembling threatened to overtake her body as she thought of Mindy with her husband Cade.
Mindy had always been selfish, even as a child. Boasting often that she’d always gotten what she wanted in life. It was no secret that what Mindy had wanted in life was Lannie’s husband, Cade.
Never taking the infatuation seriously, Lannie assumed most young girls fantasize about older attractive men? “Mindy is off the chain. You can’t believe her,” she whispered, reasoning with herself. “This is just like her to draw attention to herself in the middle of a crisis.”
Stepping inside the house she glanced at the mantle clock, as was her habit, and noted the time. 9:23 am. No matter what happened that day, Lannie knew from that time forward nothing would ever be the same again.
Looking down into the wide brown eyes of Sadie, Lannie suddenly saw clearly what she had missed for the past two years; the dimpled cheek, the brown eyes full of wonder. Why haven’t I notice before? Swallowing hard, Lannie cleared her throat to stave off the encroaching emotion and grief. The suddenness of her husband’s death had taken its toll, but this revelation stunned her beyond belief. Sadie was the mirror image of her husband!
Cade had been one of Moss Bay’s most capable firefighters. The possibility of injury had always been in the back of Lannie’s mind, but the fear had eased over the years in the routine of life. It was seldom that she dwelt on the very real danger of his profession. That chance had always seemed so remote. It happened, but always to someone else, some other family.
Bitterness intensified as she thought of the accusation against her husband. The fact that he was not here to defend himself against it made it painfully hard to handle, leaving her frustrated and hurt.
Despite Lannie’s best efforts to conceal her emotions, Sadie seemed to instinctively know something was wrong. The little girl’s soft pink lips trembled as she fixed her eyes on Lannie.
“Come here, Sadie girl,” Lannie cooed, releasing a heavy sigh. Lifting Sadie from the sofa she nuzzled her neck, feeling her downy white-blond hair tickle her cheek. Easing into a comfortable chair, Lannie held the little girl close; tightly holding on to her as they experienced the warmth of each other in that bittersweet peace that often follows devastation.

In the weeks that followed her husband’s death, when Lannie thought her cup of despair was at its capacity, news of the passing of her beloved friend, Tilda Wheeler, reached her.