Chapter 539

• He wanted to look down at her, but he couldn’t look away from the three people walking toward him. The boy was probably twelve, maybe a bit older, it was hard to tell. He reminded Noah of how he used to see himself before… he shook his head; he couldn’t think of that right now. The boy had fear in his eyes and Noah found himself inhaling, trying to find the threat that was scaring the child. He watched the eyes so similar to his own look him up and down and it dawned on him that it was him scaring the boy. Sucking in a breath, he blew it out and clenched his jaw to focus on calming down. Emersyn shifted to stand closer to him and he drew on her closeness to stay calm. His cat seemed to agree with that.
• It took persuasion to look from the boy to the woman standing there with her arm around him. It was his mother, older, but it was her. He remembered needing to see her for so long, then her image faded from his mind, and in its place was a dark blank space that should have been filled with her and loving motherly memories. He noticed she was shaking and cocked his head, trying to figure out why.
• Our dying sister… “What was wrong with Carlene?” He growled it. For years he’d pictured seeing them and saying how sorry he was that he failed them, but now those feelings of guilt and sorrow were gone, in their place was anger. They’d kept something from him.