No one forced a hug.
When Diane stood to leave, Ellie surprised everyone.
“Grandma?”
Diane turned.
“Can I show you my soccer medal next time?”
Diane’s eyes filled.
“I’d like that.”
Luke watched his mother walk away.
Claire touched his arm.
“You okay?”
“I don’t know.”
That remained the most accurate description of healing.
Not good.
Not bad.
Not finished.
Just happening.
Diane apologized to Kate eventually.
That conversation was far harder.
There were things sorry could not restore.
A first birthday.
A funeral.
Fifteen years of silence.
The fact that Luke had never known Lucy existed.
Kate did not forgive everything.
Diane stopped asking her to.
That, more than the apology, convinced Kate something might actually have changed.
On Ellie’s tenth birthday, the family gathered at Luke and Claire’s house.
Not Diane’s.
Never Diane’s.
Ellie had chosen the theme herself.
Dinosaurs.
Finally.
The backyard was filled with inflatable dinosaurs, green balloons, fossil-shaped cookies, and a giant cake decorated like a volcano.
Diane arrived carrying one small envelope.
No oversized present.
No instructions.
No criticism of the decorations.
Andrew and his family came.
Kate and Noah flew in from Oregon.
A framed photograph of Lucy sat on a shelf inside the house beside other family pictures.
Nobody treated it as strange.
When cake time arrived, Ellie stood behind the volcano.
Ten candles burned across the top.
Claire picked up her phone.
Luke stood beside her.
Diane remained several feet away.
Ellie noticed.
“Grandma?”
Diane looked nervous.
“Yes?”
“Come closer.”
Diane hesitated.
Then moved beside Kate.
Ellie smiled.
Everyone began singing.
At the end, she closed her eyes.
Ten years old now.
Taller.
Confident.
Nothing like the frightened little girl covered in pink frosting, yet still entirely that child too.
She made her wish.
Luke watched his mother.
Diane kept both hands clasped in front of her.
Ellie opened her eyes.
Then looked directly at her grandmother.
“You remember?”
Diane nodded.
“I remember.”
“No pushing.”