Bessie sits at the Wallet kitchen table with Marie and Ethan while snow falls in thick chunks outside the window. All three are busy with crayons and paper with images of Santa, Rudolph, elves, and such. The teen has given them outlines to color while she works on new ones. A jug of chocolate milk sits on the table with glasses and a plate of homemade peanut-butter cookies.
Jane Wallet peeks in from the doorway. Maybe this Christmas won’t be quite so awful as she has feared. She gazes at her grade ten student in her green sweater with her copper hair now grown out over her shoulders. With a shock, Jane realizes how much Bessie has matured these past few months. There is a deep sadness about the young woman which she knows only too well. But somehow, the pain and loss have given her a soft
