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Arthur returns to the hallway to watch over Sage.

Sean remains beside me.

For a while, neither of us speaks.

Then I look at him.

“You were right.”

“About what?”

“I need to stay with Sage.”

His expression doesn’t change.

“You can do both.”

“Do what?”

“Be her mother and help find those girls.”

My throat tightens.

“I don’t know how to be her mother.”

“Neither do I.”

“You believed her the moment she came to you.”

“I stared at her like an idiot.”

Despite myself, I smile.

“I wish I had seen that.”

“Arthur probably has security footage.”

“I heard that,” Arthur calls from the hallway.

Sean raises his voice.

“Delete it.”

“Absolutely not.”

I laugh.

The sound surprises me.

Sean looks at me.

Not at the girl I was.

Not at the woman he lost.

At me.

The woman standing in front of him.