Nathaniel looked at the two frames sitting side by side in the soft lamplight.

He didn’t rub his wrist or adjust his loose gold watch band.

“Yes,” Nathaniel said.

“There’s room.”

Martha Miller had taken over as lead finish contractor for Whitmore Construction and moved into a small yellow rental house with Daisy three miles from the shop.

Nathaniel Whitmore had chosen to open his own firm to a full labor audit, which cost Arthur Vance his contracting license and returned the stolen wages to eleven workers.

When Arthur asked for leniency over his personal equipment, Nathaniel had refused to seize the old man’s work truck, letting him leave with his dignity intact.

Daisy’s framed crayon drawing of a bright yellow crane sat on Nathaniel’s stone mantel beside Caroline’s photograph.

The quiet house was no longer empty.