“Look,” I said as I held up my phone. “Isn’t she beautiful?”

Sterling shook his head as he pulled me close. “Fuck, Araneae.”

“What?” I craned my neck upward.

“The tears. In our world, they usually mean something bad.”

With my arms around his waist and his around mine, the world felt right. “This is what I was talking about, Sterling. You always jump to the most negative conclusion. Kennedy Lucille is here. She’s beautiful and according to Lucy she has a very loud cry. She also has ten fingers, ten toes, weighs seven pounds and twelve ounces, and is twenty-one inches long.”

“Sunshine, those most negative conclusions keep us on top of all possible scenarios.” Sterling turned to Patrick. “Message Darius for the car and Marianne for the plane. We’re headed home.”

What?

“No, not yet,” I said.

Sterling didn’t need to answer, not verbally. The answer was crystal clear in his dark eyes and set chiseled jaw.

“Please, I want to hold her, just for a moment. Then we can go. I know there are a million fires in Chicago. I want to know what’s in that box, on those CDs and floppy disks, and in the documents. I do. But...give me a half hour.”

Sterling’s gaze went to Patrick. And while he didn’t say a word, Patrick nodded.

“The plane will be ready in an hour,” Patrick said. “Marianne needs to file the flight plan back to Chicago.”

I sighed. “Thank you.”

As I started to step away, I stopped. “After we go...will...will there still be people watching them?”

Sterling nodded. “Yes, they’re all safe and they’ll stay that way.”

He’d said that before the horrible incident with Louisa. Nevertheless, he’d also told me that since that episode, the number of eyes on them—the number of Sparrows—had increased. “Thank you.”

Through the window, the sky was lightening. It was morning and we’d all been up for the entire night. Hell, we’d started the day by flying to Cambridge. I’d knelt at the empty grave of a small baby, and now I was going to hold another with a full life before her.

Going back into the waiting room, I sat beside Winnie. “I can’t wait to hold her.”

She feigned a smile in my direction. Maybe it wasn’t forced. Perhaps it was the lack of sleep. “I-I was nervous to see you again, to see him.”

“Him? Do you mean Sterling?”

She nodded. “May I tell you something?” Her voice was a low whisper.

I scanned the room around us, thankful that Sterling and Patrick were still in the hallway. With those who were around us, it truly didn’t matter our volume. Everyone else in the room was talking, looking at the same picture we’d all received, and discussing Kennedy’s information. It was then that I noticed Calvin, Louisa’s father, and Jason’s parents were missing from the room.

Of course, the grandparents would be back with their precious new granddaughter. My mind fluttered to an unknown place, an image of me holding a dark-haired baby with Annabelle and Genevieve present. Maybe it was my lack of sleep encouraging my imagination. However, if this were an unreal dream and I could make alterations, I also wanted to add Josey to that room.

It didn’t matter.

The image was purely fiction.

First, Sterling and I weren’t that serious—or were we? And then I couldn’t in a million years imagine Genevieve Sparrow welcoming me or a child of mine, even if it were also Sterling’s, into the Sparrow family.

“Kennedy?”

“Um,” I said, dismissing my imagination. “What did you want to tell me?”

“He contacted me again.”

“Who?”

“Agent Hunter.”

I let out a long sigh as my pulse kicked up—again thankful Sterling and Patrick were not in the room. “Seriously, Winnie, there is so much going on. You can’t talk to him. I’m not asking you to lie. Just don’t talk to him.”

Tears welled up in her eyes. “I thought I was helping you. I know now that was wrong, but that doesn’t mean the whole thing with Louisa didn’t scare me.”

I reached out and laid my hand upon her jean-covered knee. “I’m sure. I was scared and I wasn’t here. But don’t you see that it was Sparrows who saved her? He does good things.”

“Real estate,” Winnie said, “you mentioned that.”

“I wish I could tell you more. I do. I can’t. For the rest of this week, I want you to close everything down with Sinful Threads—all operations across the country.” Sterling had told me and Jana to work from home. Extending the order nationwide was my idea; after all, Sinful Threads was my company. Perhaps I was learning to live in this new world. “I promise this is for a good reason. Tell all the managers that everyone will be paid for their normal time. Tell them that it’s a long weekend bonus in celebration of Mr. and Mrs. Toney’s new daughter.”

Winnie’s eyes grew wider with each word. She looked at her watch. “Immediately, for the next two days. You want production stopped when we’re already behind on the dress orders? We have crews planned to work Monday, too. They’re expecting the overtime.”

“Two days, Winnie. That’s all. No one works on Labor Day. We’ll be in full swing on Tuesday.”

“What’s happening? Can’t you tell me something?”

“I can tell you that you’re safe, and if you meet again with Agent Hunter, we’ll know.”

“Am I being watched?”

“Not in a bad way. After this weekend, we’re hoping it’s all done. Life will go back to normal.”

“Kenni, what’s normal for you anymore?”

My cheeks rose. “I can’t tell you that either, but I can say that I like it. I’m comfortable and safe.” I looked into her gaze. “I’m loved. I really am. And I love him too.”

“I can see that. I can. But you should know that I didn’t reach out to Wesley. He cornered me while I was at the market. We didn’t talk long. I can’t control where he finds me.”

I looked her directly in the eye and spoke low. “Winnie, you know what happened to Louisa and Jason. This is serious stuff. Involving the FBI will not help. It will make it worse. Let Sterling handle this. He’s on it. Stay home or with Louisa until after the holiday.”

Her lips disappeared between her teeth as she looked down and then back up. “Wesley told me to make a deal and save myself. He said there’s something about illegal activities and Sinful Threads. Could someone in Sinful Threads be working for Mr. Sparrow?”

My head shook from side to side. “No, not in a nefarious way.”

“I told him I didn’t know anything.” She sighed. “I liked Wesley. I really did. Now I don’t know who to trust.”

I knew that feeling. I’d had it. “I trust Sterling and Patrick implicitly. I’ll tell them what Agent Hunter said. We’ll get to the bottom of that.” Or should I say we’ll add it to our growing list of to-dos.

The double doors opened and all four smiling grandparents came through. Lucy spoke, “They have paper gowns back there and before you touch her, you need to sanitize your hands, but if you girls want to go back, they’ll let all three of you.”

Girls?

I guess that was what came from one generation to the next. The younger, no matter how old, were always younger.

My gaze went between Winnie and Lindsey. “Let’s go.”

A few minutes later, covered in a blue paper gown, I sat in a large glider as Jason came toward me with Kennedy in his careful grasp. “Aunt Kennedy, we’re very happy to introduce you to Kennedy Lucille Toney.” He placed the beautiful baby wrapped in a light blanket in my waiting arms.

Her little face scrunched as her eyes opened and closed.

“It’s bright out here, sweetie,” I said.

Unwrapping the blanket, I peered down at her perfect little body covered only in a tiny diaper. As I opened her grasp of one fist, she wrapped her long slender fingers around my one finger. With tears in my eyes, I looked over to Louisa.

She was smiling my way with Jason at her side.

“She’s beautiful,” I said, my voice filled with emotion. She was also wearing a tiny stocking cap. “May I take off her hat to see her hair?”

“Yes,” Louisa said. “It’s light, like Jason’s.” Her eyes glistened with unshed tears. “Like yours, Kenni.”

It was. Her hair was a fine, soft yellow coating, barely visible, and as soft as silk to the touch.

“Hello, Kennedy,” I whispered. “Your aunt Aran—Kennedy is going to spoil you rotten.”

I didn’t want to give her up, to pass her on to Winnie or Lindsey, yet I knew Sterling was waiting. Finally, I looked around. “I can’t be selfish. Who is next?”

Once Kennedy was safe and secure in Lindsey’s arms, I went to Louisa. “I love you...both...all of you. I have to get back to Chicago, but I promise I’ll be back.”

Louisa reached for my hand. “Jimmy Hoffa?”

I smiled and shook my head. “Nope, no idea where he’s buried.” Considering he went missing in the 1970s, I was certain that he wasn’t one of Sterling’s skeletons.

His father’s or my uncle’s?

Now those were genuine possibilities.

“Stay safe,” Jason said.

“I will. You too.”

Jason nodded. “We have help and...” He looked to Kennedy in Lindsey’s arms. “...we’ll take it.”

“All I can tell you is that you’re important to me. That makes you important to him.”

After giving a round of hugs, I made my way out of the room. The nurses’ desk was much busier than it had been, men and women in scrubs coming and going, watching monitors and typing information.

There was a normalcy about the medical center, now that it was morning that was reassuring. In the waiting room, I said my goodbyes to Lucy and Calvin, wondering how these people would fit into my new world.

What was normal?

I wasn’t sure I knew anymore.

And then as I opened the door to the outer hallway and a devilishly handsome man turned his dark stare my way, I knew.

Sterling Sparrow was my new normal.

“Sunshine,” he said, “we need to get back. Reid has cracked the first CD.”

“Broken it?” I asked, aghast.

“No, he’s got the data. Only eleven more to go.”