He expected the quiet to feel strange. It did, but not in the way he feared. Marlo brought him the dragon book, climbed beside him, and asked him to begin where they had stopped several weeks earlier. He read until they reached the last page, then reread her favorite section because she wanted to hear how the dragon found its way home.
When he tucked her into bed, she asked whether the house would stay warm all night. Everett went to the thermostat, checked the setting, and told her that the system was working as it should. She nodded, settled her rabbit beneath the blanket, and fell asleep almost immediately. He remained in the doorway, astonished by the ordinary blessing of being able to give a truthful answer.
Several days later, Serafina asked Naomi whether Everett's housing case had reached a decision. Naomi explained that the application had been approved according to the program criteria and that the family had moved in. She offered no private details beyond what Everett had agreed could be shared. Serafina thanked her and returned to her work, feeling a warmth she did not quite know how to name.
It would have been easy to send expensive furniture, a decorated tree, or a package containing enough money to make the family indebted to her in ways no legal agreement could describe. For a moment, she considered ordering an elaborate housewarming gift. Then she remembered the boy who had wanted her at his school performance and the father who had sat beside her without understanding what her fortune could buy. She called Everett instead and asked whether she might visit them one afternoon.
He was surprised but pleased. "Marlo would like to meet you," he said. "I've told her about the woman from the hotel who listened when I was having a difficult day."
"You didn't tell her about the company?"
"I told her you work very hard. She thinks that means you might know something about computers."
Serafina laughed. "That's not entirely wrong."
She arrived on a clear Saturday carrying a small box of colored pencils and a framed photograph of Adrian as a teenager. There was no photographer, public-relations team, or expensive car waiting conspicuously at the curb. Her driver dropped her off, and she walked up the path herself, noticing the faint green of grass beginning to appear near the fence. Everett opened the door before she reached for the bell.
For a second, he looked embarrassed by the boxes still stacked near the stairs. Serafina glanced at them and said that unpacking was evidence of a family living in the house, not evidence that anyone had failed to prepare properly. He took her coat and introduced her to Marlo, who appeared in the hallway with a sketchbook tucked beneath one arm. The child looked at Serafina's elegant shoes, then at the box in her hands, and asked whether she had come to see the garden.
"I've heard quite a lot about it," Serafina answered.