Two tall girls walk hand in hand down a dark path.  Then all of a sudden, the path floods with moonlight…

“Is that you Purity and Beatrice?” A familiar voice calls out to them.

“Prudence?! Is that you?” Ask the girls in unison.

“Yes, it’s me.” And all at once, the girls see their oldest sister standing next to a giant willow tree.  Her arms are wide open and so wanting to hug them.

The girls rush to her.  One on each side.  ” You are so tall!” Prudence says in bewilderment.

“We missed you so much Prue, ” Beatrice starts to say.

“Ugh!  I know!  But I have you in my arms now.  No one gets into this world without my consent.  I built this beautiful place for us.

As they look around at the moonlit garden they are in, they can smell the lilacs blooming.  Their purple buds bursting in streams of violet and indigo.  They can hear doves hooting good night in the distance.

“Let’s go have some tea,” sighs Prudence as she takes each girl by the hand and they walk over to a nearby table that has been set.  The tree next to the table is filled with soft white twinkling lights.  And there are several chairs they can choose to sit in. They each sit down on the comfy couch on the far end of the table, one on either side of their oldest sister.

“We’re going to have a tea party out here in the moonlight?” asks Purity.

“But I don’t like tea,” says Beatrice.

“Did you think I’d forget that?” questions Prudence.  “I got you a strawberry orange smoothie.”  Beatrice smiles.  “And for Purity and I, we have hot tea with lots of sugar.  For all of us, we have scones with cream and strawberry jam and raspberry tarts.  I wouldn’t think of having a tea party for my girls without dessert.

For the next hour, they giggle and tell stories of this and that.  They hold onto their big sister whenever they have a chance.  She, in turn, hugs each girl with such warmth and love. They don’t want to think about when their party will end.

Brrrrrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiing!” the alarm clock on Purity’s  cell phone went off.

“Ugh!  I don’t want to get up!” announced Beatrice.  “I want to stay with Prudence in the moonlit garden.”

“Me too, Bee.  But that was a dream,” said Purity.  “Don’t worry, we’ll see her again soon.  We’ve got to get a move on and go to school.”

The girls hustled to get ready for another day at school.

But in the back of their minds, they could still taste the sweet white Devonshire cream from the raspberry tarts and they could still remember the warmth and comfort of their oldest sister’s embrace.

Throughout the day, the joy they experienced kept them warm.

It reminded them that love always finds a way.  They knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt that their sister loved them and was with them in spirit.

And they were not afraid.