CHAPTER 48: THE SHAPE OF PEACE
Peace did not arrive all at once. It came in fragments, small, almost unnoticeable pieces that slowly began to fit together into something whole. The first time I truly felt it was a week after everything settled, on a quiet afternoon when nothing unexpected happened. No calls. No warnings. No shadows creeping into the corners of my thoughts. Just sunlight pouring through the living room window while the children played on the floor, their laughter rising and falling like a rhythm I had nearly forgotten. I sat on the couch watching them, my hands resting loosely in my lap, and realized I wasn’t waiting for something to go wrong. That absence of tension felt unfamiliar, almost suspicious, but also… comforting. It made me aware of how long I had lived in a co
