Together, they got out of the car. Killian retrieved the gift bags from the back seat while Annie stood on the sidewalk, staring at the house like it might disappear if she blinked.
"Ready?" Killian asked, offering her his free hand.
Annie looked at his outstretched hand, then at the house, then back at him. She saw confidence there, steady and sure, the kind of strength she could borrow when her own ran out.
She took his hand.
"Ready."
They walked up the path to the front door together, and with every step, Annie felt like she was walking backwards through time-toward answers, toward closure, toward a past that had shaped everything she had become.
The Christmas decorations hit Annie like a physical blow.
White lights-hundreds of them-were carefully strung along the
