Page 2 of Nineteen Seventy-Six

“But about the college applic—”

“I didn’t miss the deadline,” Elizabeth said. “Because, technically, there isn’t a deadline if you don’t intend to go.”

“Don’t intend… Elizabeth, seriously? Not go?” Irish Colleen was incredulous.

“You get all bent about Evie going away to study science, and then get twisted about me not wanting to go at all, so which is it? Is school good or bad? Does it make our lives better, or is it silly, just a waste for a woman when she could have a husband and kids to look after?”

Irish Colleen balked. “That’s not fair. I fully support Evangeline’s decision. I just wish she’d talk to me, is all. She’s always so brooding and cynical, and I never know what’s on her mind.”

Elizabeth spun her chair around to face her mother. “No one owes you access to their thoughts. Not everyone likes to share.”

“You used to.”

Elizabeth made a dramatic glance at the calendar. “Oh, yes, it’s spring. Time for your annual soothsaying, is that it? If I tell you what I’ve seen, will you let me get to bed?”

“You weren’t even in bed when I came in!”

“Not the point.”

“What’s gotten into you?”

“No deaths, at least that I’ve seen,” Elizabeth said flippantly, yawning in the middle of the sentence. “Good thing we’re rich, though.”

“What is going on with you?”

“Gonna need all the moolah in the bank to pay for the therapy everyone’s going to need before this year’s up.”

CHAPTER 1

But, What if You Could?

Augustus’ alarm went off, but it needn’t have bothered. Setting it was only a habit now, not a necessity. He wasn’t asleep. He remembered every last creak of the house settling throughout the long night; every change in the pace or pitch of Anasofiya’s breathing. If he’d slept at all, it hadn’t been for long.

He was getting used to this now. It was okay. He didn’t need sleep, not if being awake meant being vigilant to his daughter’s well-being. Irish Colleen might chide him for keeping the bassinet in his room, but when her children were babies, there were two parents in the home. Double the security, in the event of an emergency, and for an infant, emergencies lurked around every corner.

It could be disruptive to her sleep as well, darling, not just yours.

I let her sleep, Mama. I only go to her when she wakes up.

You should only go to her if she’s hungry or needs changing, Augustus. You’ll spoil her like this, training her to know how easily it is to wrap Daddy around her finger.

“I’d rather her wrap me around her little fingers than ever worry that her daddy isn’t there,” Augustus whispered as he lifted his little redheaded beauty into his arms, careful to support her developing head and neck. “Ready to eat? We just had a delivery of milk only yesterday. Your wet nurse is on the ball.”

He’d considered installing an elevator, to avoid the prospective disaster of him losing his footing as he carried Ana down the stairs. The steel housing was there, from the early twentieth century, when Magnolia Grace had been equipped with one, but when one of the little cousins got trapped in there for two days, August had the thing removed, and a wall put up.

“You’re up,” Elizabeth called from the kitchen. She sat hunched over a bowl of cereal, scooping her spoonfuls like a caveman. Often, she and Connor stayed over now, though Augustus hadn’t asked. In the morning, Irish Colleen would show up and they’d pass one another like the changing of the guard, which was probably how they saw their presence in his life, Augustus realized.

“You’re here,” he charged, switching Ana to the other arm.

“I made her a bottle,” Elizabeth replied without looking up from her food. “It’s on the warmer.”

“Thank you,” he said. “But that wasn’t necessary. I can do it.”

“I know you can do it, Aggie. I decided to be helpful, since I was up.”

“Where’s Connor?”

Elizabeth glanced up at the clock that hung over the door. She groaned. “About to be late for school if he doesn’t get his ass out of bed.”

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