Cassandra continued her work in neonatal intensive care, and together they created a nonprofit that supplied equipment and specialist training to small hospitals caring for premature babies.

Luke and Violet grew up knowing their father had missed their first two Christmases. They also knew he had spent every Christmas afterward making ordinary memories with them.

Pancakes. Bedtime stories. Snowmen that leaned sideways. Arguments about vegetables. Flights to visit their grandparents.

One Christmas evening, as the family sat beneath the tree, Luke asked Damon whether he still owned the shiny superhero watch.

Damon lifted his wrist. “I do.”

“Does it tell superhero time now?”

Damon looked at Cassandra, at Violet, and at the two children who had changed the meaning of his life. “Yes,” he said. “It tells me when I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.”

THE END.