It was decided the baby was to be taken home and put on formula. Marie, of course, insisted on caring for Maggie.

Gary stayed by Betty’s side and, after saying goodbye to Betty and Grant, Marie and Maggie took their first long drive home alone to grandma’s.

It wasn’t until the next morning that Marie heard a knock at the door. It was Grant’s father Bill.

Hat in hand, he stood like a statue on that big country farmhouse porch, and with a crack in his voice he said that Betty had passed away in her sleep one hour before the doctor arrived from New Orleans.

Marie took the only path she could take. She would grieve her daughter’s death, but she could not, would not, lose her granddaughter too. Saying goodbye to Bill and turning to Maggie’s cry, she calmly embraced her grandchild and sat with her on the front porch in the old rocking chair and sang her little angel to sleep.