I wrote almost the same words to Bryce and Hazel, each on separate paper.

I sealed the letters for a day when they might want them.

For once I was not writing to win an argument.

PART 17

The most painful discovery came from an old voicemail archive recovered during the legal review.

It was a message Megan had left for me shortly before Hazel’s surgery.

A recording from a forwarded business number, saved to a server I’d never bothered to open.

“Garrett,” her voice said, thin with exhaustion, “I don’t know whether you’ll hear this.