"Lizzie, we will not go out for a stroll until you put on your coat. The windy autumn weather is fickle, and the cold air might blow in at any moment. Your mama and papa will be home this afternoon," Ada Bright said to her four-year-old niece. Ada lived with her sister Susan, who had been like a mother to Ada since her parents died.

"I like cold weather. I wish it would snow," Lizzie replied with a pout.

"It's too early for snow, but when if it does, I promise we'll make snow angels," Ada said, although she knew snow in Virginia was unlikely. She had lived here all of her twenty-one years, and she had never seen but a dusting in her town. As she helped Lizzie on with her wool coat, there was a knock at the door.

"Mama!" Lizzie exclaimed. She was excited about her mother's return because she had promised her a peppermint stick.

"They aren't scheduled to return this early." Ada tousled the little girl's unruly brown curls. "It can't be your mama, because she wouldn't knock."

Ada answered the door of the small house and found Don Daniels standing there. He worked at the bank downtown and had been heading home. He had come upon the carriage soon after the accident, he believed, because the horses were still struggling beneath the wagon, down in the ravine where it had ended up. But the driver and passenger—Lizzie's parents Susan and Richard—were already dead.

"I think the horses must have been spooked," Don said, mangling his hat in his sorrow and discomfort. "Maybe a snake; I hear they've been spotted on the trail."

Myrna Daniels, who stood behind her husband, leaned down and whisked in to take Lizzie for a stroll. No one wanted the girl to hear any more of the unpleasantness.

***

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