Chapter 5: The Sanctuary on the Bluff
At dawn, Sebastian drove Tess to retrieve ten-year-old Leo from their cramped, third-floor walkup apartment in a neglected industrial district of Fall River.
When Leo saw his sister’s bruised face, the little boy threw his arms around her waist, weeping against her sweater. ""Tess... what happened? Who hurt you?""
""Nobody can hurt us anymore, Leo,"" Tess whispered, kissing his forehead. ""We’re going to a safe place.""
The car drove south along the scenic coastal route to *The Sea-Lavender Farm*—a forty-acre historic farmstead on a sunlit bluff overlooking Narragansett Bay.
The property featured an antique fieldstone farmhouse, four massive glass greenhouses, and rows of heirloom lavender and coastal perennials sloping gently toward the blue water.
The air smelled of sea salt, sweet honey, and damp cedar.
Sebastian’s grandmother, seventy-five-year-old Eleanor Harrington, met them at the porch wearing a gardening apron and canvas gloves.
Eleanor did not look at Tess’s worn sneakers or Leo’s metal braces. She looked into their exhausted eyes, opened her arms, and pulled both siblings into a warm, fierce embrace.
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""Welcome home, children,"" Eleanor said softly. ""The kettle is on, the bread is warm, and the doors here are never locked against honest people.""
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