Chapter 13: The Vigil on the Water
On a clear, warm evening in mid-August, Evelyn sat in her favorite rocking chair at the end of the long wooden pier.
The sun was sinking behind the western horizon, painting the Chesapeake in breathtaking strokes of amber, violet, and molten gold.
Evelyn watched Allison, Caleb, and young Thomas wading in the shallows thirty yards out in the cove.
Thomas was laughing hysterically as Caleb tossed him into the gentle, warm waves, while Allison stood nearby, her linen skirt hitched up, her face radiant with pure, untroubled joy.
Evelyn touched the silver cross at her throat, taking a deep, clean breath of the sweet salt air.
She remembered the night in Room 412—the terror, the cold fluorescent lights, the feeling of standing on the edge of an abyss.
Allison had stood between her and the darkness that night, slamming down the truth on a metal table and refusing to let the wolves take her away.
The foundation had held.
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It had held because when a family is built on truth and love, no storm on earth can tear it from the earth.
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