Chapter 16 - The Empty ChairMonths passed.
Sarah returned to work part-time.
Lily returned to school.
Mark returned to his weekend routines.
Life became ordinary again.
Almost.
There was still one empty chair at Thanksgiving.
No one spoke about it.
But Sarah looked at it once.
Then looked away.
"I thought I would feel guilty forever," she said later.
Mark sat beside her.
"You don't have to."
"I know."
She stared through the window.
"I just wish she had chosen differently."
Mark nodded.
"Me too."
There was grief in Sarah's voice.
Not grief for the woman Martha had become.
Grief for the mother Sarah had believed she had.
May you like
Some wounds didn't disappear.
They simply stopped bleeding.
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Chapter 17 - The LetterOne spring morning, an envelope arrived.
Chapter 18 - The Last SecretThe investigation revealed nothing immediately.
Chapter 19 - A Family Chooses Its FutureThey could have returned to fear.
Chapter 20 - The Door OpensA year after the morning that nearly destroyed them, the Evans family stood in their backyard beneath a warm summer sky.
