Chapter 8 - The Anniversary of Light
One year to the day after the rainy November night when a starving little girl walked into Lumière, the weather outside was once again turning cold and crisp.
Inside the penthouse, however, the air was warm and smelled of cinnamon, roasted chestnuts, and vanilla.
Victor stood by the grand window, holding a cup of coffee, looking out over the illuminated streets of Arlington Street. A year ago, this date had been a dark anniversary of unimaginable grief, a day he spent drowning in shadows and mourning the loss of Eliza and Olivia.
Now, as he turned around, his heart felt full, anchored, and deeply at peace.
In the living room, four-year-old Leo was enthusiastically building a massive tower out of wooden blocks, chattering happily away. Sitting at the mahogany dining table, nine-year-old Milla was meticulously working on her history homework, her binder open beside a framed photograph on the mantelpiece.
The photograph showed Eliza and Olivia smiling brightly in the sun, and right beside it, a newer framed picture captured Milla and Leo laughing on a sunny beach in Maine, flanked by Victor’s broad shoulders and protective arms.
Milla looked up from her books, noticing Victor standing by the window. She set down her pen, walked over, and tugged gently on his sleeve—just as she had done a year ago at table twelve, though now her cheeks were rosy, her eyes bright, and her clothes fit her perfectly.
“Victor?” she asked softly.
“Yes, Milla?” he replied, kneeling down to look at her.
“Thank you,” she said simply, throwing her arms around his neck and burying her face in his shoulder. “For not letting the maître d’ throw us out.”
Victor wrapped his arms tightly around her, resting his chin on her brown hair. A single tear tracked down his cheek, but it was not a tear of sorrow. It was the cleansing rain of a new spring.
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“Thank you for walking through that door, Milla,” Victor whispered, his voice thick with emotion. “You didn't just save your brother that night. You saved me, too.”
From across the room, Leo knocked over his tower of blocks with a joyful shriek, sending wooden pieces clattering across the floor. Both Milla and Victor burst out laughing, breaking the quiet stillness of the room with a sound of pure, unadulterated life.
