From his bedroom doorway, Carson watched his niece finally succumb to sleep, the rise and fall of her emaciated chest just visible under his worn bed sheet. With his brother gone, she was all he had. And he was all she had. Lacy deserved better than a grief-stricken uncle to help her make it through the winter. She deserved a proper home, not a corner set aside in his one-bedroom basement flat. They all deserved more. Lacy was just another orphaned child in S"aven. He was just another bereaved father, brother, husband. There were no complete families left in town.
He made to close the door and caught one final look at her. With the covers pulled tightly to her chin, he could almost believe it was Danelle in bed, that his only daughter had lived past her third birthday and was resting soun
