These were the rooms Leo had learned to walk in, had laughed in, had lived his whole short bright life in.

I was not going to surrender the place where my son had been happy to the memory of the man who tried to steal it.

I was going to reclaim it, entirely, for Leo.

So I did.

I repainted the kitchen island back to the soft cream it had been before.

I threw out the cheap candles and opened every window and let the spring air pour through the house until it smelled like ours again.