I touched the stone.
“Dominic had it made,” Margaret said.
I nodded.
The bench
wasn’t expensive or elaborate.
It was simple.
Exactly the kind of thing Sophie would have liked.
I sat down.
For a long time, I listened to the wind moving through the trees.
Then Margaret quietly returned to the house, leaving me alone.
I remembered Sophie running across the grass with her arms spread wide.
“Mommy, look! I’m flying!”
I remembered her picking flowers she wasn’t supposed to pick.
I remembered the way she always insisted on giving me the prettiest one.
My eyes filled.
“I miss you, sweetheart,” I whispered.
A light breeze moved through the branches.
For one impossible moment, I could almost hear her laugh.
Then footsteps approached.
I turned.
Dominic stood several feet away.
He wore dark trousers and a simple sweater.
No security guards.
No expensive watch.
No phone pressed against his ear.
