She didn’t want to read more. Why was Mama saying these things? Maybe the letter was only a backup plan if she had trouble finding her way back from the spirit world.

The next paragraph read, If Raven has children, they will inherit all that Raven owns. If she is currently pregnant, you will not try to take this child from her. I’m adamant about this, Sondra. Though she’s considered “underage” in this society, she is fully capable of raising a child in the ways she and I prefer to live. Here again, I know you and your attorneys will know how to get her and the child proper care and legal guardianship until she comes of age.

If she is currently pregnant? Why would Mama say that when she was certain Raven’s body couldn’t make a baby?

Raven suddenly understood. She had never confessed to Mama that she wasn’t asking for a baby as Mama had requested of her many months ago. She must have thought the earth spirits would give Raven a baby soon, and of course she would have to pretend a baby that came from the spirit world had come from her daughter’s body.

The letter continued. My final request will be difficult for you, Sondra, but you must understand this is my decision and mine alone. Our mother wanted her death to take place in the Montana mountains. She wanted to draw her last breath there and be left as she was for the earth to recycle. Instead, you and Father forced her into a hospital and made her die drugged and attached to machines. You buried her in a New York grave next to her parents, though you knew she had not once in her life asked for that. I have never forgiven you for that crime. It is a deep wound in me that never healed.

It was also a warning to me. In recent months, I prepared my final resting place on my Washington land. I have carefully chosen, excavated, and sanctified this burial ground according to my spiritual practices. In the event my attorney passed this letter to you, I have been resting there, by my own hand, for a week or more. You must not try to find me.

“No!” Raven cried.

“I’m sorry,” her aunt said.

Raven kept reading through a blur of tears. My daughter must never view my deceased body. I want her to see me in my true state, in that land she and I know and love well. We will remain on that land together. Tell her nothing has changed. I am there with her always and forever.

The letter was signed Audrey E. Lind.

“I’m very sorry,” her aunt again said as Raven let the letter go limp in her hand.

“You aren’t sorry.” Raven threw the letter at her aunt. “My mother did not want me to read that letter. That’s clear from what she wrote at the end! You were wrong to show it to me! Why have you never honored her wishes? Why did you do that to her mother? I want nothing to do with you! I want you to leave my house!”

Her aunt rose from the couch. “I had to show it to you. You refused to believe she isn’t coming back.”

Raven still believed she might come back. Mama had sent the letter to state her wishes in case she couldn’t find her way back to Raven. She knew she had to be clear in what she wanted because of the wrong her sister had done to her mother.

“Raven . . . ,” Jackie said. “Do you want me to leave?”

His eyes reflected deep grief. The approaching anniversary of his father’s death was magnified by everything he’d witnessed in the last fifteen minutes. And now he knew Raven had been lying to him.

She went to him, and he enclosed her in his arms. “I’m sorry I lied to you,” she whispered.

“It’s okay. I understand why you did.”

He didn’t, really, but she was grateful for his forgiveness.

“Why did Audrey mention a child?” her aunt asked.

Raven spun out of Jackie’s arms. “That’s none of your business!”

“Apparently it is if she put it in a letter addressed to me.” She looked at Jackie and back to her. “Is it true?”

“No!”

“Well, that’s a relief.” She picked up the letter and put it back in the envelope. “I’ve talked to her attorney. Everything is in order. She’s left you the entirety of her estate—which is substantial.”

“I don’t need anyone to be my guardian,” Raven said, “but if that’s the only way I can stay here, I’m willing to comply. Please go now. I want to be alone.”

Her aunt drew in a big breath, then expelled it. Raven knew what that meant. She was preparing for a fight, as she often had done with Mama.

“It’s not that easy, Raven. Your mother can’t just disappear like this. There will be many questions. Police will have to be involved.”

“You will leave her alone!” Raven shouted.

“How can I? I need a death certificate for you to inherit. How could your mother have overlooked that problem?”

“You know the ways of that world. You’ll figure it out.”

“My god, you sound just like her.”

“Just go!” Raven said.

“I will not! My sister has given me the responsibility to fix this mess she’s left, as she has all her life. And so I will.”

“My mother would help,” Jackie said. “I’m sure she’d agree to become Raven’s guardian. She could live with us if she’s not allowed to live here.”

Ms. Danner. It was perfect!

“That’s what I want,” Raven said to her aunt. “Ms. Danner lives right down the road.”