LOGINEliora's POV "You're going to be at the signing tomorrow, right?" my publicist asked, half her attention on her phone, half on me, while I gathered my bag and tried to remember if I'd eaten lunch."I'll be there," I said, checking my watch and feeling a small jolt of panic at the time. "I need to go. It's late.""His Wife On Paper just hit number one again," she called after me, grinning. "Third week running.""I know," I said, already halfway out the door. "I know, it's incredible, I have to go."I'd barely had time to process any of it, the book deal that had come together almost by accident two years ago, a quiet evening of writing down everything that had happened to me, never imagining anyone would actually want to read it, let alone that it would become the thing currently dominating every bestseller list I checked. The title felt obvious the moment I typed it. “His Wife On Paper.” Because that's exactly what I'd been, once. On paper. Nothing more.I drove home with the radio
Eliora's POV "Whose grave is this?" Noah asked, looking up at the headstone with the particular seriousness he brought to questions he actually wanted answered properly."This is your grandfather," I said. "My dad."Ezra had gone quiet beside me, his hand finding mine the way it did when he sensed something mattered before he fully understood why. He'd asked me weeks ago why he'd never met him, and I'd told him the truth, that his grandfather had died before either of the boys existed, that there hadn't been time, that some people you loved you only got to know through stories instead of memories."What was he like?" Noah asked.I crouched down between them, looking at the headstone. His name carved into it along with the dates that had always felt too close together. David Monroe. No mention of everything he'd built, everything that had been taken from him, everything that had eventually, years later, found its way back."He was careful," I said. "Thoughtful. He used to write ev
Zoey's POV "You're staring," Drew said, nudging me with his elbow while the photographer fussed with her lens cap."I'm allowed to stare. I'm emotionally invested.""You're emotionally invested in everything.""That's not a flaw, Drew, that's a personality trait." I watched Eliora across the garden, adjusting Noah's collar for the third time even though it had looked fine the first time, and felt my chest do the thing it always did when I looked at her.I'd known her since we were nineteen, both of us crammed onto a dorm room floor eating instant noodles at two in the morning because neither of us could sleep and neither of us wanted to admit why. She'd been quieter then. Careful in a way that used to worry me, like she was always doing math in her head about how much of herself was safe to show people.She wasn't doing that math anymore. I could see it from here."Remember when she used to apologize for taking up space?" I said."I wasn't there for that version of her.""I know. I'm
Eliora's POV "Nobody move," the photographer said, adjusting something on her camera while Noah, predictably, had already started fidgeting with his collar. "Just two more minutes.""You said that three minutes ago," Ezra pointed out."I'm aware," she said, not unkindly, and gestured for Kian to shift slightly closer to me. "Perfect. Hold there."We'd planned this for weeks, a proper family photo, the kind we'd never quite managed to get done amid everything else, always too busy, too scattered, too consumed by whatever crisis or quiet recovery was happening at the time. But Kian had insisted, the way he did sometimes now, deciding certain things mattered enough to actually schedule rather than hope would happen organically."This feels very formal," I said, trying not to move my mouth too much while still talking."It's supposed to be a little formal," Kian said. "That's the point.""You hate formal.""I've made an exception."Noah, beside me, had gone completely still in the parti
Eliora's POV "Make a wish before you blow them out," I said, watching Noah eye the four candles on his cake with deep suspicion, like they might do something unexpected."What do I wish for?""Anything you want."He thought about this with the seriousness he gave everything, glancing once at Ezra, who was practically vibrating with anticipation beside him, then closed his eyes and blew out all four candles in one go."What'd you wish for?" Ezra demanded immediately."You're not supposed to tell," Noah said."I told mine when I turned six.""That's because you forget rules," Noah said, which was true enough that nobody, including Ezra, bothered arguing.Kian cut the cake while Mrs. Halloway hovered nearby with the particular pride she'd developed over the years for these small milestones, taking photos on her phone with the same dedication she'd once reserved for documenting Ezra's stone collection."Four," Kian said, handing Noah the first slice. "How does it feel?""The same as thr
Eliora's POV "Finally," Kian said, setting two mugs down on the coffee table and dropping onto the sofa beside me, "some peace and quiet.""Don't say that too loud," I said. "The universe is listening.""The universe can wait a day." He pulled my feet into his lap without asking, the way he'd done a thousand times before, and started rubbing the arch of my foot with his thumb. "Drew and Zoey have all three of them until tomorrow. I checked the group chat….they're fine. Mitchell's already 'won' two arguments with Ezra and Noah's been reading the same book since they arrived.""Sounds about right."The house held a kind of silence I'd forgotten existed, not the heavy kind, not the kind we'd lived through during the silent treatment weeks, but the easy, settled kind. No small feet on the stairs. No negotiations happening in another room. Just us, the morning light coming through the kitchen window, and tea going lukewarm because neither of us had the urgency to drink it quickly."I al
Eliora’s POVThe walk back to my room felt miles longer than the walk out. My legs were heavy, and the adrenaline that had carried me through the confrontation with Kian was beginning to evaporate, leaving behind a cold, hollow ache. I moved slowly, my hand sliding along the wall for support, my h
Eliora’s POVThe room felt unnervingly empty after the door clicked shut behind Margaret and Ezra. The ghost of my son’s laughter still seemed to vibrate against the sterile white walls, a cruel contrast to the heavy, suffocating silence that replaced it. I stared at the wood of the door, my pulse
Eliora’s POV"How are you feeling, my dear? Really?"The voice was like a warm blanket on a winter morning. I looked up from the hospital bed to see Margaret standing just behind Ezra. She looked older than she had a month ago, the lines around her eyes deeper, her sensible cardigan buttoned tight
Eliora’s POVThe walk back to the room felt ten times longer than the journey out. By the time the heavy, oak-paneled door clicked shut behind us, my lungs were burning and my legs felt like they had been replaced by frayed wires. Elijah helped me transition from the walker back to the edge of the







