Epilogue: Safe at Home

I changed the locks that afternoon.

Carolyn stood across the street with red eyes and a cup of coffee in her hands.

“I should have noticed sooner,” she whispered.

I shook my head.

“You did notice. You saved her.”

When Sarah came home from the hospital, she stopped at the front door and looked up at me.

“Is Grandma here?”

My heart cracked quietly.

“No, sweetheart.”

“Is Mommy mad?”

I knelt in front of her.

“Mommy is not allowed to come here right now.”

That night, Sarah slept with every hallway light on.

I did not turn a single one off.

I sat outside her bedroom door until morning, listening to her breathe.

Across the street, Carolyn’s porch light glowed softly in the dark.

But this time, my daughter did not need to run toward it.

She was already safe at home.