Chapter Fifty-One: I Let You Down

Raphael

I could tell something was off with Beth when she came back from the store. Her shoulders were rounded, her head was down, and I could just feel that her spirit had deflated. She came in through the garage door, set a sack of groceries on the counter, and then went to the living room where Lucy was watching television. She sat heavily on the couch and opened her arms.

Lucy seemed to know exactly what she needed. She crawled over the couch and climbed into her mother’s arms, and wrapped her little arms around Beth’s neck. Beth hugged her daughter close and rested her head on Lucy’s head.

I felt my heart squeeze as I gazed at them from the doorway. I had only known Lucy for a short time, but I already counted her as one of the three people I loved most in this world, apart……