husband James sober up and settle his nerves before going home after the second shift to face his cheating wife, day after day, year after year. To defend her passion and give Polly something true to take to prayer meeting, Sheila might have revealed all of these secrets had Gail not intervened, but she knew without a doubt that she’d take one secret to her grave: how two weeks ago during the dark moon, after Martha pulled the Three of Swords card and they looked together at the picture of a heart pierced three times against the backdrop of a heavy rain, they went out with lanterns to Sheila’s garden and gathered ingredients. “It’s such a pretty shrub, so soft and sweet,” Martha said of Sheila’s pink and white nerium oleander. “To look at it,” Sheila agreed, “you’d never know it could break a man’s heart.”
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