“Chloe would approve.”

Before we left, Thomas held the old photograph beside the sea and looked at it for a long time.

“She would have loved this,” he said.

Paige took his hand.

I stood beside them, not quite family in the traditional sense and no longer a stranger.

We went to dinner, argued over dessert, and drove home in the dark.

I had never been more grateful for a day in which nothing miraculous happened.

PART 23