Catherine Petersons died at 2:17 AM on a Thursday morning, two weeks before Helen's catastrophic stroke, her body finally surrendering after months of fighting the aggressive cancer that had spread through her ninety-four-year-old frame with merciless efficiency.

The hospice nurse found her during routine vitals check, her breathing having simply stopped sometime in the previous hour, and she called Rose immediately with the news that everyone had been expecting but dreading.

Rose received ...