Martine Crawley Comes to Hiram

Chapter 1: Nothing left

The first time Martine Crawley came to Hiram, nobody knew what to make of him.

He arrived in the middle of summer, when the Georgia heat pressed down over the town like a heavy blanket and the roads shimmered beneath the sun. He was unlike anyone the people of Hiram had ever seen before. He carried himself with a quiet confidence, spoke words that sounded strange and beautiful, and smiled as if he knew secrets the rest of the world had forgotten.

The town remembered his smile most of all.

It was the kind of smile that made people forget their own thoughts. His teeth were bright, his voice smooth, and every unfamiliar word that left his mouth seemed to linger in the air long after he had spoken.

The Campbell sisters were the first to listen.

There were three of them.

Beth, the oldest, was careful and responsible. She had spent most of her life taking care of others, especially after their father died and left them alone in the old family house at the edge of the woods.

Emmaline, the middle sister, was quieter. She watched more than she spoke. She carried sadness in her eyes, the kind that came from knowing too much about loneliness.

And Vera, the youngest, was different.

Vera laughed easily. She believed the world was bigger than the small town that surrounded them. She wanted adventure, love, and something extraordinary to happen to her.