I stood beside Stanley and watched as Noni’s nurse straightened the already straight covers. She swept her elegantly long fingers over the ends of Noni’s hair. “You were an amazing woman, Rose. I’m really going to miss you.”

I bit my lip until I tasted blood. I couldn’t cry. I wouldn’t allow myself to. Not until I was alone, because once I broke down, that would be it for me. Noni had passed in her sleep after two weeks of being in a comatose state.

There was never any rhyme or reason when it came to death. What one person battled and won, another got defeated by and passed on. When that happened, it left a gaping hole so deep inside those left behind that they could easily fall into it and cease to exist as well. The dead had it easy. Their jobs were done, while the living had to keep putting one foot in front of the other, trying to gain some semblance of control over the gaping emptiness of the hole left behind by their absence.

Who stitched the hole? Who brought all the pieces of a shattered heart back together? How did I move on when a presence that filled my days and nights was no longer there? Did the empty void end up shrinking over time, or did people start filling it with other things to keep it from becoming a black hole?

Eli was missing.

I’d lost Noni.

How soon would it be before I lost myself?

“Nova,” Murphy called my name as she shook my shoulder.

My eyes burned when I cracked them open.

Murphy’s face was a patchwork of colors. Red and white splotches dotted her entire face.

She pulled in a deep breath and swallowed loudly enough I could hear it. And when she spoke again, her voice was wrong. “Nova, I need… we need to talk to you.”

I recoiled from her touch. “No.”

“Nova, it’s important,” she said, moving as if that would make me sit up and follow her.

I shook my head. Denial or rage, whatever it was called, engulfed me. “No. No. No.”

“Yes. Denying it isn’t going to help right now,” Murphy snapped.

I kicked my way free of the covers, and shot off the bed. “Get out! Get out right now, do you hear me? I don’t want to hear whatever it is you have to say!”

The words ripped at my throat and I fought the burn, swallowing over and over again.

“We’re not leaving until we talk to you,” she said, planting herself in front of me.

“Fine, then I’ll leave,” I snapped.

They blocked my way, every single one of them, until they had me circled. “Get out of my way.”

I turned and turned and turned again, but they wouldn’t move. They wouldn’t let me leave.

“Nova!” Oliver grabbed me and shook me until my teeth rattled. And then, when he was done, he guided me to a chair and shoved me into it.

“Oliver, do you think that’s going to help?” Paige, at least it sounded like her, said.

He roared. “Everyone needs to back away for a minute. Now!”

I flinched when he pulled a seat up and sat down in front of me. His eyes trapped mine as he said, “I know you’re dealing with a lot right now, but this is important.”

I blinked as I watched his lips move. Heard his impossible words. Jerked back when he snapped his fingers in front of my face, and then I lunged from my seat. He caught me against his chest. Held me as I pummeled him with my fists.

There was a small animal lodged in my throat, and it was screaming to get free.

Oliver just held me tighter, lifted me in his arms, and carried me off.

I came back to myself cocooned in a blanket, head tucked against the pulse of a warm neck. Soothing sounds rolled over me as a set of arms held me together. “It’ll be all right, Nova. We’ll be all right.”

I closed my eyes, inhaling the scent of Eli’s cologne coming from the blanket tucked under my chin. I hadn’t washed it since he left. Maybe I’d known somewhere deep down inside that it might be the only trace of him I’d have left when I had nothing else.

They left the same way they came. One minute there, the next gone.

One by one, they filed out the door, sad looks on their faces when I huddled into myself and refused to say goodbye… refused to say anything at all after I’d lost it the night before and told them to leave because I couldn’t stand to look at them anymore. Couldn’t stand to see all of them, knowing one of them was no longer there. He was gone because of who they were and what they did.

Oliver watched them leave, one behind the other. After they were gone, he dropped an envelope in my lap. His parting words stabbed me in the spot where my heart used to be. “The house is yours. Eli saw to that before he left for Siberia. Goodbye, Nova.”

I sat at the kitchen table with my hands wrapped around my untouched cup of coffee when the front door opened, startling me.

“Nova.”

I spun, staring at the woman who I never thought I’d see again, let alone see again in Nome. “Mom?”

She looked so much like Noni that my heart clenched at the sight of her. And then she scowled, blurring the image. “Why didn’t you call me before she died?”

I jerked back. I’d called my mother after Noni passed. I hadn’t wanted to, but I’d done it anyway because it was the right thing to do. I wasn’t sure how she managed it, but her face hardened, stripping every bit of Noni from her features. I wanted to sigh in relief, but knew better. It had been a long time since I saw my mother, but I knew the look she wore. And I knew whatever she planned on saying wasn’t going to be pleasant.

“Answer me, Nova. Why didn’t you call me before she died?” she demanded.

I crossed my arms, planted my feet, and opened my mouth, but she barreled on.

“You have a lot of nerve spending her money to buy yourself a house. That money was mine,” she said, screwing up her face and pointing her manicured finger at me. “You have until next Friday to get her things together and pack them.”

Anger fueled me to speak. “What things? Noni didn’t have things. You should at least remember her enough to know that.”

“I want the deed to her house, along with whatever life insurance policies she had, as well as the deed to this one,” she demanded.

I didn’t move. I couldn’t move. Of all the things to find humor in, the last thing I’d have expected to laugh over was deeds and insurance policies.

“Now, Nova,” she said, snapping her fingers as if that would put me in motion.

It would serve her right to have to deal with Noni’s house and the demolition of it. After the fire, I’d kept all of Noni’s paperwork in a file folder in case it was needed. If my mother wanted the house that bad, then she’d get it along with all the responsibilities that went along with it. She wasn’t getting her grubby paws on anything else. I’d burn the paperwork, and laugh as she scrambled to pick up the ashes.

It was true what they said about people showing their true colors after a family member died, and my mother was no exception. She’d never even tried to keep in touch with Noni over the years, not unless she needed something. And once she got what she wanted, she fell off the face of the earth again. At least my father had the decency to stay away after he walked out on us.

I left her in the kitchen and marched down the hallway. She’d get the damn deed, but that’s all she’d get.

I didn’t say a word as I handed the paperwork over. I had no idea how any of it worked, nor did I care. She could figure it out. For all I knew, she might not even be able to take possession of the property. I mentally shrugged. Not my problem.

“Where’s the other paperwork? I know she had a life insurance policy,” she said, snatching the deed from my hands.

She had several of them, but I wasn’t about to tell my mother that. “It was used to cover medical and cremation expenses.”

That part was true. I’d taken the smallest policy and cashed it out. The check hadn’t come in, but the money would be gone once it did. Stanley had covered the cost of having Noni’s body flown to Anchorage to be cremated. He’d argued with me about paying him back, but I wouldn’t hear it. Neither would he, so we settled it by compromising. Once the check came in and all the outstanding medical bills were paid, he would get whatever money was left over.

“We’ll see about that,” she said, storming past me.

I knew my mother all too well, so I didn’t even try to stop her when she decided to search the house. She wouldn’t find what she was looking for; I’d made sure of that.

Between items being tossed around, and her shrill threats, I waited. She could take the whole house and shake it upside-down, but she’d never find the insurance paperwork.

“Where is it, you little bitch?” Mom said, stopping once she was toe to toe with me.

Somewhere deep inside, the small pilot light that kept me going ignited. I wasn’t going to allow any more of her nonsense. “You wanted the deed. You have it. And now it’s time for you to do what you do best… leave.”

I caught her hand just before it cracked against my face. My fingers dug into her wrist, and she cried out, but it didn’t matter to me if I was hurting her. Her momentary pain would never make up for all she’d done to me and Noni.

“You have the deed. That’s all you’re getting. Leave now, and don’t come back,” I said, shoving her back.

She clutched her wrist, no easy feat with the death grip she had on the deed. “You’re in no position to tell me what to do. I’m her daughter. You’re only her granddaughter. Do you think the law will take your side?”

I shrugged. “Call them and we’ll find out.”

“This isn’t over, Nova,” she warned as she marched off.

The front door slammed shut, and I wilted against the kitchen counter.

“Yes, it is.” The papers I’d hid from her dug into my back as my eyes landed on the little square piece of paper held by a magnet on the refrigerator. It fluttered every time I opened and closed the door, making it hard to miss since it was the only thing on there. Murphy had put it there before she left, tapping it as she said, “All you have to do is call.”

I hadn’t really thought about the meaning behind it. At that point, I hadn’t wanted to think at all. Those days were over. My mother showing up had proven to me that life would continue to go on, and if I didn’t take part in it, I’d be steamrolled and left in the gutter. And that just wasn’t me. It was time to be who I was meant to be. Even if it meant starting over.

“I don’t want this,” Stanley said, trying to return the papers to me.

I stepped back, hands laced together behind me. “It doesn’t matter what you want. It’s what I want.”

He huffed. “Well, that’s all fine and dandy, but, Nova, you should use this to go somewhere and start over.”

I gave him one of the first smiles to touch my lips since Noni passed. “That was supposed to be my line.”

He shook his head. “You know I’ll just keep it and will it to you when I die.”

I shrugged. “It’s yours to do what you like with, but if you’re just going to will it back to me, why not do something with it that I’ll at least enjoy, like maybe a condo on the beach in Hawaii.”

“Pain in my ass.” He chuckled, dropping the papers on the table with a sigh. “Fine.”

“Good,” I said, giving him a firm nod.

“Are you sure about this, Nova?” he asked, placing his hand on my arm.

“I am,” I answered.

“Can you do an old man a favor?” His eyes watered, but he smiled to hide it.

“Depends on the old man,” I replied, feeling my own tear up in response.

“Call me once in a while, so I know you’re okay.”

I laid my hand on his and squeezed gently. “I promise.”

“Good, now get out of here before you make this old man cry,” he said, winking at me and then shooing me out the door.

I waved to him from the other side of the cafe window as he wiped his eyes.

I’d done the hardest part, but I still had one more thing to do before I left Nome.

“Your house?” Dale asked, baffled as he looked from me to Lisa and then back at me. “People don’t just give houses away.”

Lisa hunched her shoulders when one of her nieces let out a piercing scream and threw herself on the floor in a raging fit. “I’ll be right back.”

Dale watched her dart around the dramatic temper tantrum holding court in the small living room and then scrubbed his hands down his face. Sighing, he dropped his hands and winced as another screech stabbed our eardrums. “Look, Nova, I appreciate it. I really do, but we can’t accept what you’re offering. It wouldn’t be right.”

Lisa’s sister, ignoring the problem in the living room, hung on to every word we said. There wasn’t a single bit of privacy for anyone living under the roof of her little house.

Lisa came back with two jackets in her hands, “I can’t even think in here. Nova?”

I stood as she handed Dale his jacket. She gave her sister a look of annoyance as she shoved her arms into her own. “We’ll be back a little bit later.”

Once we were outside, Lisa sighed deeply and then said, “I have no idea where to go. I just couldn’t stay in there a single second longer.”

It was time for me to take charge like Noni would have done. Digging in my pocket, I pulled out my truck keys, jingled them, and said, “Lucky for you, I have just the place.”

They didn’t say much as I drove across town. The silence had to have been a blessing for them as Lisa put her head on Dale’s shoulder and closed her eyes until the truck came to a stop.

Taking the keys from the ignition, I handed them over to Dale. “Would you mind unlocking the door? I need to do something real quick.”

I pretended to check on something in the back of the truck. Once they were behind the closed door, I walked down the street at a brisk pace.

It would take them a minute to free themselves of jackets and boots and make their way into the kitchen. And I knew they’d go to the kitchen because I’d brewed a pot of coffee and baked a roll of cookies, so the smell would draw them. From there, they’d see the envelope with their names on it, along with the goofy welcome home sign I made the night before. Had they not left Lisa’s sister’s house and come with me, I’d had a second plan in motion by way of Stanley delivering the keys to them. I’d been banking on Lisa agreeing to take a drive with me, but her need of peace and quiet had worked in my favor, so I hadn’t even had to ask. And I’d already known Dale would go wherever Lisa went.

Dale was a proud man. I knew he wouldn’t take the offer if I gave it to him. But if I gave him no other choice, he wouldn’t be able to say no. It was Eli who gave me the idea. He’d left the house to me, even going one step further by having it put in my name. Changing it over to Dale and Lisa’s names was one of the things I asked for when I dialed the number stuck to the refrigerator.

The snowcat rolled up beside me, coming to a stop and waiting as I steeled myself to take the last steps of tossing who I was behind me in the street and embracing who I wanted to be inside the confines of the cab.

When I opened the door, Murphy leaned across the seat. With a smile, she said, “Knew you’d call.”