I crossed the dark ocean. Rain and exhaust fell away while salt and wild thyme grew stronger. Dawn reached the water before I saw land.
Sicily.
The pull ended on a rocky cliff above the Mediterranean. The sky was clear, and sunlight covered the water from the rocks to the horizon.
Small white flowers grew between the stones, shaking in the warm sea wind.
My redwood coffin rested near the edge with no crowd and no tall arrangements of funeral flowers. Salvatore had placed it where the cliff opened toward the sea.
From there, the water filled the horizon.
Salvatore stood beside it alone. The armed guards and vehicles from New York had stayed out of sight.
He wore a simple dark suit and leaned hard on the cane with the silver wolf.
For a long time, he watched the water. Without his me
