Garden of the Moon by Elizabeth Sinclair

his picture made Sara’s heartbeat race. How she longed to touch him…really touch him.
    Impulsively, she went to the mantel and ran her fingertip over his cheek, then down to his lips. The skin on her fingers seemed to warm, as though she were actually touching human flesh. She pulled her hand back, but the sensation remained.
    Something hit the side of her leg. She touched her pocket. Maddy’s diary. Carefully, she withdrew it. Hugging the book against her heart, she glanced once more at Jonathan’s captivating smile and then walked to the chair next to the window overlooking the Garden of the Moon. She sank into the chair, eager to learn what Maddy Grayson’s deepest thoughts were. She opened the cover. The faint odor of roses drifted up to her.
    Then the door opened, and Raina poked her head in.
    Sara frowned, impatient to be rid of her maid and get back to the diary. “Yes?”
    “Miss Sara, deys a lady downstairs what says she knows you. Says Massah Preston sent her here.”
    Reluctantly, Sara placed the diary on the small table beside her. “Did she give you her card?”
    “No, ma’am.” Raina looked at the floor and shuffled her feet. “She’d don’t appear like the kind what would have a card.”
    Growing increasingly impatient, Sara stood. “Well, did she at least give you her name?”
    “Yes, ma’am, she sho nuff did. Says she’s Miss Juliana Weston.”
    “Julie!”
    With unbridled delight propelling her, diary forgotten, Sara bolted from the chair and nearly knocked Raina off her feet in her haste to get downstairs to see her dearest friend from boarding school.
     
    ***
     
    Julie stood in the middle of the sitting room. Her raven-black hair, tied up with a blue ribbon, hung loosely down her back. Her faded, travel-worn, navy blue gown was wrinkled and soiled. But all Sara really cared about was her dearest friend. A friend she sorely needed right now. Julie understood her. Julie knew about Sara’s gift and never doubted her or laughed at her or belittled her because of it.
    Sara squealed, rushed forward, and then hugged Julie so tight, she gasped for air. “I can’t believe it!” She stepped back to feast her eyes on the friend she hadn’t seen for almost four years. “You must tell me everything that’s happened to you since I last saw you.” She grabbed Julie’s hand and ushered her to the settee, calling orders over her shoulder to Raina to bring them refreshments.
    Once they were seated, the questions poured from Sara. “Why are you in Louisiana? How long can you stay? Are you married? Did you bring him with you? Who is he? Where is he?”
    Julie laughed out loud, the sound musical and light, but, to Sara’s ears, a bit forced. “My word, Sara, which one of those questions do you want me to answer first?”
    The hollow smile Julie flashed at Sara lacked sincerity. This was not the Julie Sara had known at boarding school. That Julie had bubbled with life. Nothing dampened her spirit. When Sara had confided her problems to her, she’d always found the bright side of everything. But now, the inner light that had always made Julie shine was gone. Something was terribly wrong.
    Taking Julie’s cold hand, Sara looked her in the eye. “Tell me.”
    Julie’s beautiful gray eyes filled instantly with tears. The smile vanished from her lips. Her shoulders slumped. “Papa’s dead.” She grimaced, as though the words slashed a wound in her heart.
    “Oh my goodness, Julie.” Sara pulled her friend into her arms and cradled her like a small child while she sobbed quietly. “I am so very sorry.”
    Sara knew how much Julie had loved her father. Their love for their fathers had been what brought Sara and Julie together as friends. Julie’s mother had died in childbirth, and her father had transferred all the love he’d had for his wife to his infant daughter. He’d raised and adored Julie and from what she’d told Sara, they’d been inseparable. Her father had been the center of