“Thank you, Marlene,” I whispered.

“You’re home now, dear,” she said, patting my back.

I walked into the small living room, where a fire was crackling softly in the hearth.

I tip-toed into the small bedroom off the hallway.

Leo was curled up under a heavy quilt, his breathing slow and even.

I knelt by the bed and gently brushed a strand of dark hair from his forehead.

His eyes fluttered open for a second, showing that deep, familiar blue, before he drifted back to sleep.

I walked back into the kitchen, where Marlene was pouring two cups of tea.

“The news is everywhere,” she said, nodding toward a small radio on the counter.

“It’s over,” I said, sitting down at the wooden table. “They took Elaine.”

“And Damon?” Marlene asked, setting a mug in front of me.

“He’s in Chicago,” I said. “He wanted us to go back with him.”

“But you didn’t,” she noted, a faint smile on her weathered face.

“I couldn’t,” I said. “If I go back now, I lose myself again.”

My phone, sitting on the table, began to ring.