Daisy leaned her head against my shoulder, and we sat together in complete silence for a long time while the rain kept falling outside.

Eventually, she whispered, “I just don’t want you to be all alone again, Mom.”

The tenderness in her young voice nearly brought me to tears right then and there.

“I’m never alone,” I reassured her as I kissed the top of her head.

“I have you, and I have your sisters to keep me strong.”

“And we have Austin, too,” she added.

I looked back down at the note in my hand.