Mom standing by the window in their first apartment, heavily pregnant.
And me.
So many photos of me.
In their arms, on their shoulders. With pink ribbons in my hair and cake frosting on my fingers. In diner booths eating French fries. At Disney World waiting in line to ride the spinning teacups.
They’d documented everything. And, as I sat on the cold floor of the storage unit flipping through picture after picture, the watercolored shades of my old memories, so faded and weak, filled in with vibrant new life. A riot of new color I’d never, ever forget.
In the unit, there were other things, too. Things I was surprised my uncle had kept. Sentimental items from his own childhood, when he and my father were just boys. I supposed, some part of him had loved his brother, once. Before he was charged with the raising of his niece. Before he was twisted by greed and narcissism.
I’d taken several photo books with me when we finally left. The rest, it would take more than a few days to sort through — physically and emotionally. And, for the time being, I was eager to get back to Salem. Back home. I had clients waiting for me. I had friends. I had a puppy, left in the questionable care of one Florence Lambert.
I was ready to leave Florida behind.
This time, on my terms.
Cade had one final surprise up his sleeve before we hopped on the plane. He’d driven us to Disney World on the last day of our trip. We’d walked around, hand in hand, taking in the sights. Riding rides, snapping photos. Like any ordinary couple. But ordinary fell away the moment he brought me over to the gift shop, where he purchased something that made my eyes sting.
A snow globe.
Inside it sat Cinderella’s castle. And when you shook it in your hands… Sparkles fluttered through the water, a starburst of vibrant purple. Just like the one I’d treasured as a child.
It was the most thoughtful gift I’d ever received.
(Besides, perhaps, a faded Baltimore Ravens sweatshirt.)
Now that we were back home, that snow globe sat on my nightstand. I looked at it every night before I fell asleep in Cade’s arms, feeling like the luckiest woman who’d ever lived.
“Imogen!” Declan’s yell called my gaze toward the stairs, where he and Rory were peering out at me from between the banister rungs. “You’ve got to come up and try the telescope!”
“Give me a minute, space-invaders!” I called back. “I’ll be right there!”
Their footsteps pounded up the stairs, a cacophony. Gigi heard it. Our eyes snagged across the room and she smiled at me. Her eyes were warm. She looked happier than I could ever recall seeing her since we’d met back in the fall. Her gaze left me when the cute professor appeared back at her side, extending out a fresh glass of white wine for her.
“She looks happy,” a voice murmured in my ear.
I whipped around, startled to see Cade standing close by. I hadn’t even heard him approach. “I think she is. And she deserves to be, after everything she’s been through.”
He nodded.
Georgia O’Banion had endured a lot, these past few months. Between Rory’s disappearance and the brutal divorce battle against Donny that followed, it was more weight than any one woman should’ve had to bear on her shoulders. But now… she was finally free.
Free and clear.
I knew the feeling.
It was a good one.
“You want them?” Cade asked, out of nowhere.
“Want what?”
“Kids.” His chin dipped toward the stairs, where Rory and Declan had stood only moments before. “Do you want them? We’ve never really talked about it.”
My lips parted as I expelled a large gust of wind. “Um…”
“Breathe, Goldie. No wrong answers, here.”