InsaneJournal

Elena Pepper, 1963
The nun had earnest eyes and a firm voice. "Please don't bring him back," she said, twice and then again as she left, to make sure Elena understood.

She does understand, and she looks at her son and doesn't know what to feel. When Teresa picked up a flower and it blossomed in her hand Elena was overjoyed. Octavius is more troubling. He is seven years old and his hair is curling into his face and he's getting tall too fast and needs a new pair of shoes and the nun never said the word "expelled", but still she worries.