Several weeks later Caroline found Nora reading the notebook aloud to Violet, who had begun adding her own drawings between the lines.

They argued over whether the sunflower belonged before or after the birthday cake.

Caroline listened from the hallway, grateful that the disagreement was about the order of happy memories, not about how to survive another frightening day.

PART 22

On the first anniversary of the afternoon at the police station, the girls did not ask to mark the date.

Caroline knew the calendar held significance for her, but she did not want to impose a ceremony on them.