Chapter 10 - The Warmth of Home

The winter gala was an absolute triumph. By ten o'clock, the dance floor was packed with laughing guests, the string quartet was playing its final joyful crescendos, and the massive banquet tables were surrounded by people sharing stories, raising glasses, and celebrating community without pretense or condition.

I stepped outside through the side service doors onto the quiet stone balcony, letting the crisp, refreshing night air cool my face. The city lights twinkled across the skyline like distant stars, beautiful and vast.

The heavy oak door behind me clicked open softly, and light footsteps approached across the stone patio.

"Mom?"

I turned around to see Alowyn standing there, wrapped in her winter coat, holding a small paper cup of warm apple cider. She walked up beside me, leaning her arms against the stone balustrade and looking out over the city lights.

"Everything is running perfectly inside, boss," she said with a bright, confident smile that reached all the way to her eyes. "Uncle Beckett and Aunt Lavinia aren't missing anything, are they?"

I laughed softly, wrapping my arm around her shoulders and pulling her close against my side. "No, sweetie. They aren't missing anything at all. Because everything we ever needed was right here all along."

Alowyn looked up at me, her expression serious yet entirely at peace. "Grandma Dorothea would have loved this place tonight, wouldn't she?"

"She would have loved it more than words can say," I answered, pressing a gentle kiss to the top of her head as Crispin bounded out onto the balcony holding a leftover slice of chocolate cake.

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"Hey! Are you guys hiding the good desserts out here?" Crispin demanded playfully, joining us at the railing.

We both laughed, pulling him into our circle as the warm light from Riverside Hall spilled out onto the stone patio behind us. The past was behind us, locked away in a digital folder of evidence that would never need to be opened again. The future stretched out wide, bright, and entirely our own—built on truth, protected by unwavering boundaries, and warmed by the kind of love that never runs out.