Page 369 of The Protector’s Daughter

“I searched for Hayley for years,” he says.

“She told me.”

“I would have searched for you too.”

“You didn’t know about me.”

“I know.”

His voice breaks.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there.”

I grip the back of his shirt.

“You’re here now.”

“It doesn’t give us back eighteen years.”

“No.”

“Nothing can.”

“No.”

He holds me tighter.

“But we have the next eighteen,” I say.

“And every one after that.”

Footsteps move through the hall.

Hayley enters the kitchen.

She sees us and stops.

“What happened?”

“Nothing,” I say.

Sean answers at the same time.

“She wants to go home.”

Hayley looks toward me.

“Tennessee?”

“Iron Ridge.”

Her eyes fill.

Sean opens one arm.

She walks into it.

For a few seconds, the three of us stand together in the kitchen.