He salutes me before strolling out of my bedroom and out through the front door of the guesthouse on the grounds of Athena’s property I now call home. Arlo refused to return to the Martin family home. He said there were too many bad memories, and we both agreed. Thena bought this place a few blocks from the private high school Arlo attends in Lowell. They live in the main five-bedroom house, and I live here. It's the best of both worlds. I get to see them every day, yet we all have our own space.
I work remotely but travel to Rydeville once a month for a few days for in-house meetings and to catch up with family and friends. Arlo and Thena travel with me sometimes. My family welcomed them warmly, and some of the happiest moments I’ve shared with my son are when we’ve been at my mom’s or Abby’s and Kai’s place. Arlo is great with his younger cousins, and they worship the ground he walks on.
It's been good for him.
Good for all of us.
It’s been torturous having to return to Cali after weekends filled with activities and laughter, but Arlo calls the shots. We go where he goes. Period.
Thena’s business is still located in Boston, and she hired a manager to oversee the office while she works from Lowell, so we’re managing to make it all fit. It feels a little weird to say life has never been better when we’ve dealt with so much traumatic shit, but I honestly have never been happier or felt more settled, like I’m exactly where I should be, living the life I was always meant to be.
* * *
“Is Vera meeting us at the graveyard?” Arlo asks, removing his headphones and lifting his gaze from his cell shortly before we’re due to land at the private airfield just outside Rydeville.
“I believe so,” I say. Vera is doing so much better these days. I think Arlo literally saved her life. Her nephew has given her a purpose and a reason to prioritize her healing, and she’s made so much progress she’s finally ready to reclaim the life stolen from her.
Arlo loved her from the moment they met. That first meeting was emotional in the extreme for everyone. They have a special bond I’m envious of even though I’m super happy they have one another. They talk regularly on the phone, and I think it’s good for him to have someone to talk to who is closer in age to him.
Arlo won’t talk about Amos. At least not to Thena or me. I hope he’s discussing it with his therapist because that’s a heavy burden for a sixteen-year-old to carry.
“Are you coming to the house with us after?” he asks, eyeballing me.
“I would like to, unless you both want privacy for the first visit?”
We plan to head to the Ford family home after the graveyard. It will be Vera’s first time there since she was a baby, and Arlo wants to see where his mom grew up.
“I’d like you there,” he quietly replies. “Both of you.” His gaze drifts to Thena. She’s asleep with her head on my shoulder.
“You got it.”
* * *
The memorial ceremony in the crypt is emotional but joyous. Arlo and Vera cling to one another as the harpist plays soft music while Jane’s parents are laid to rest beside her. The Luminaries suggested we dig up the back garden of the Martin house a couple months ago, and we found what was left of their bodies there. It was intel offered by the mole after they discovered his identity and stopped him from putting Amos’s posthumous plans into place.
All our family and friends are here, crowded behind us in the crypt. Lavender diffusers scent the air comingling with all the flowers in the stone room. We couldn’t find any trace of Silas among the remains Knight Carter had reexamined, so we don’t really know what happened to him. I’m sorry I couldn’t reunite Jane with all of her family, but I hope they are out there together somewhere.
“Come stay with me tonight,” Mom says, looping her arm in mine after we leave the crypt and make our way through the cemetery. “I’ve missed my boys,” she adds, messing up Arlo’s hair as he walks past with Talia and Jane hanging off his every word. They hero-worship their older cousin and love when he comes to visit.
“Love you, Gramma,” he says, darting in to kiss Mom’s cheek, and my heart swells to bursting point.
“Love you too, precious boy,” she replies before the girls pull him away.
“How’s he doing?” Mom asks.
“Better. The good days are outweighing the bad.”
“And how are things progressing between you and him?”
“They’re good. He’s starting to confide more in me. I’m trying to be open with him, and I don’t shy away from telling him the truth even if he asks me something hard. Teaching him to drive helped too. I feel like it’s brought us closer.” He got his permit the second he turned fifteen and a half, and we bought him a Range Rover for his sixteenth birthday.
“I know things have been challenging, but I’ve never seen you happier, Drew, and that makes me so incredibly happy.”
“Things are good.” My gaze automatically gravitates toward Athena. She looks to be in a deep conversation with my sister, and I wonder what that’s about.
“You need to make her yours. It’s time.”
I arch a brow at my mother. She’s been on her best behavior since I sat her down and explained the agreement Athena and I had come to. There’s been no more talk of weddings, but I hope to give her the opportunity to help plan ours one day. “You know why we’re waiting.”
