Book excerpt: The death of a childhood friend while under Jefferson Parker's counsel fills him with doubts about his calling as a minister. Convinced he's incapable of helping anyone, he still finds himself pulled into the mystery of his mother's new neighbor. Haunted by nightmares since her husband’s untimely death, Pamela Sue Crawford returns home to the small Texas town where she grew up in hopes of finding the peace she desperately craves. Could an old woman's stories of life in World War II Texas be exactly what they both need to unravel the secrets of the past and set things right? Or will they discover the truth may be worse than the nightmares?