The younger woman standing next to Aunt Madeline was laughing openly at something taking place outside the camera frame.

I had never seen my aunt laugh with such uninhibited joy in any of the pictures I owned.

It was not that Aunt Madeline was an unhappy person, but she simply had a very reserved demeanor.

Her joy almost always manifested as a calm, warm smile that started quietly in her eyes.

“What happened between them to change things?” I asked.

“Rose decided to leave our hometown when she turned twenty-four,” Samantha explained.