Raised voices called Edith from her deep slumber. A small hand was enveloped inside her own, too small to belong to Cadmus…perhaps Lou. Wildflowers with a nostalgic bouquet lured her out of her slumber. It was a comfort until her aching body threatened to anchor her back into unconsciousness. She heard a groan in the room. It was her own. The voices stopped, and she recognised the silence as her cue to awaken. Sluggishly, she prized her eyelids apart and was thankful that only soft candlelight greeted her. It must have been evening. The hand within her own gently squeezed, trying to rouse her from the comfort of oblivion.
“Wake dearest.” A voice she had yearned to hear uttered comfortingly.
Tabitha was sat on a chair next to her bed. Her lips fraught and scabbed from the nibbling she d
