Noah carried the rings, grave and careful with his enormous responsibility.

Daniel escorted Maria down the aisle.

And before they began to walk, Maria touched the small scar above her eyebrow, the one the mirror had left, and said, quietly, “That night, I thought I was going to lose everything.” Daniel looked at her.

“You saved all of us,” he said, and he meant every one of them, the living and the nearly lost.

And it was true.