They didn’t have to speak; he knew why they were there.
“Doug,” Jack said, and they all nodded.
“Aiden said he’d keep an eye on your room and Charlie,” Mike said.
He glanced back at Charlie. “I’ll be right out.”
Closing the door, he strode over to her. He hated waking her, but he couldn’t leave without letting her know first. He woke her and told her there was something he had to do, but he would be back soon. She kissed him and went back to sleep.
Stepping out of the room, he accepted the shovel Liam handed him and followed them to Doug’s grave. They hadn’t discussed it, but none of them could leave here without their friend.
Epilogue
Three monthslater
Charlie leaned against the porch beam of the house that would soon be hers, Jack’s, and Dylan’s. At the end of the field, overlooking the sea, Doug’s marble monument glinted in the early morning sun. Fresh flowers lie on the grave, and tomorrow new ones would replace them.
Charlie blew on the coffee she clutched as she watched Dylan and Hope throwing the ball for Dawg, Hope’s dog. After three years without what she once considered the liquid of life, Charlie had been ecstatic to have her first cup of coffee after leaving the island. She may not need it, but she still liked it, and she wasn’t ready to part with it.
She chuckled when Dawg, a big, shaggy mutt with a lolling tongue and sparkling brown eyes, planted his front paws on Dylan’s chest. The dog leaned forward to leave a big, sloppy kiss on his cheek. Dylan wiped the saliva from his face before patting Dawg’s head and pushing him away.
Hope laughed as she ran away from Dawg’s bounding leaps while he chased her. At six, Hope was the closest to Dylan’s age here, and she’d become his best friend since they arrived. She was a mature six and good for Dylan, as she and Dawg got him to smile more than anyone else.
Though she wanted to get him back to as normal a life as possible, Charlie decided to keep Dylan out of school for the year. He needed time to come to terms with what they endured, his new life, and to catch up on the education he missed.
Everyone had gone out of their way to make them feel welcome, and they were adjusting to being part of the family. Dylan loved his life here, and after everything he went through, Charlie was going to give him this time to embrace his new family and life.
Every day, they did lessons together, and he was taking online courses. He’d already passed second grade and was acing third. With the way he was going, he would be caught up by December, but she wasn’t going to rush him.
At first, she’d kept him out of school because she was also concerned that if she enrolled him someone might recognize them from the news or missing people reports. Julian assured her that wouldn’t be a problem before going through the computer and eradicating as much of the information about them as he could. Of course, he could never get rid of it all, but the chances of a random person recalling a post from three years ago about her and Dylan were pretty slim.
When he finished removing as much of their old lives as possible, Julian built them new lives and identities. For this part, Dylan agreed to take Jack’s last name, and Charlie was more than ready to rid herself of her old last name; it had brought her nothing but sorrow. Julian carefully crafted them new IDs that would pass anywhere. When it came time for Dylan to return to school, no one would question who he was, and no one was looking for them anymore.
Though they’d both made friends at the school where Charlie taught before being taken, only one person continued to spend years looking for them, Miss Dodd.
Unable to let Miss Dodd go through the rest of her life worried about them, Charlie called her a month after they escaped the island. She didn’t know what she would say; she just needed to talk to her. Unfortunately, it hadn’t mattered. When someone answered at Miss Dodd’s home in Florida, they told Charlie she passed away three months ago.
Charlie couldn’t contain her sobs over losing the woman who had saved her, been her friend, and was the only mother she ever knew. And Miss Dodd had died never knowing what happened to them. After reading through some of the reports about them, Miss Dodd was the only person who never gave up on her, kept looking, and insisted she hadn’t taken off but was in trouble. She was the only one with any faith in her.
Across the open lawn where Hope and Dylan played, Mollie and Aida emerged from behind Liam and Sera’s house. They strolled across the grass toward the children. When Aida spotted the kids, she broke into a run and charged at them. Laughing, she scooped them up and spun them around. Hope squealed with delight, and Dylan laughed before schooling his features into a more serious expression.
“He’ll be okay,” Jack said as he emerged from the nearly finished house to stand beside her. He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her against him. Resting his lips against her temple, he inhaled her fresh lavender scent and smiled.
“I know,” she murmured. “But I worry.”
“He likes it here.”
“He does,” she agreed. “So do I.”
“Good. Have you talked to Mal lately?”
“This morning,” she said. They talked at least once a week. Turning to face Jack, she draped her arms around his shoulders and smiled up at him. “He’s doing well. They’re in New Orleans now.”
“That’s good,” Jack said and kissed her nose.
After returning to discover their friends and family gone, Miguel and Darlene decided to stay with Mal. LeNae and Kirha were also with them, but LeNae was considering staying in New Orleans if the others moved on.
Gio and Lucia returned home with no memory of the Byrnes and only a vague memory of Jack procuring a boat and rescuing them. Mal kept in weekly contact with them, and they hadn’t revealed anything about what they endured on the island. They were having a rough time with their families, who were angry at them for taking off, but they were happy to be home.
