“Yes.”
“I thought you were replacing her.”
“I know.”
She finally explained what Thomas’s grief after Evelyn’s death had looked like.
Claire and Daniel had managed his bills, appointments, home—everything.
Then suddenly their father was attending church events again.
Buying new clothes.
Smiling at his phone.
Then he announced:
“I found Margaret.”
To them, I had appeared from nowhere.
I told Claire about losing Robert.
How I had kept his shoes beside the door for an entire year because moving them felt too much like accepting he would never return.
“When I married Thomas,” I said, “I never wanted Evelyn to disappear.”
Claire’s face changed.
Then she reached into her handbag.
My simple gold wedding band lay in her palm.
“I brought it back.”
I slipped it onto my finger.
“Thank you.”
Before we could say much more, Mr. Bennett arrived.
He brought more documents from Thomas and Evelyn’s trust.
