The company had sent a polished proposal for managing and renting the property.
Fortunately, some instinct Marcus could not explain had kept him from signing it.
It mattered more than he could express that Evelyn’s house was where he had driven first.
When his entire world turned upside down and he needed somewhere absolutely safe for Lily while he gathered evidence, there had been no real question.
Not a hotel.
Not a friend’s home.
Hannah’s mother.
Evelyn had loved Lily before she was even born.
She had taken her to Hannah’s grave every year and poured the love she still carried for her daughter into her granddaughter without asking for anything in return.
Sarah had spent a year performing the role of family so convincingly that Marcus had believed it.
But when performance fell away and Marcus needed the real thing, the difference became obvious.
Real family was the older woman twenty minutes away who opened her arms, said come here, sweetheart, and asked no questions until the child was safely out of the room.
