Ken drove to the Parkman House, the restaurant where Ray McClellan had tended bar when he’d first returned to Weldonville after retiring from the ATF. He and Marjorie had bought it, attached a comfortable fifteen-room hotel with high ceilings, thick beams, and stone fireplaces to the historic structure, and called that part McClellan’s Inn. Marjorie had been one of the Clays who had inherited the local hardware business after the murder of her parents and uncle, and the project had provided work for some of the Clays’ employees at a slow time.

When Ken pulled into the parking lot and he and Leah began to extricate the kids from the confinement of their car seats, they saw Ray and Marjorie come out the side door of the restaurant.

The children took their first steps at a run, but Ken yelled, “Freeze!” They all did. “Do not run across the parking lot,” he said. “Cars pull in here too fast all the time.” They all stepped off the edge of the pavement and ran across the grass to where Ray and Marjorie McClellan waited.

Marjorie said to the kids, “We’ve been waiting for you people. It’s been months.”

“That’s right,” said Ray McClellan. “And I notice that all three of you got shorter.” He turned to Marjorie. “Aren’t they supposed to be growing?”

“We are!” Raymond said. “We’re all taller.”

“You’re tall enough,” said Marjorie. “You’re already Longs. We set aside a room for you Longs that opens onto the courtyard where the pool is. We’ll get you settled, and then you can change for a swim. That okay, Mom?”

“Sounds great,” Leah said.

The whole group set off for the room near the pool, with Ken and Leah trailing behind carrying the duffel bags full of clothes. When they were settled and had changed, Marjorie led them back to the pool. “All right, ladies and gentlemen.” She pointed at a young man and young woman in bright red bathing suits. “These two lifeguards are Felicity and John. They are qualified, certified, and thoroughly tested by the state of Colorado. What they say goes.” The two young lifeguards got into the water to help the children descend into the shallowest part of the pool.

Leah and Ken Long stood in the water, not quite relinquishing their children to the lifeguards, and Marjorie and Ray sat down beside them, dangling their legs in the pool. Leah said, “Thanks so much for doing this again, Marjorie. It makes me think about the things I want to remember and not the rest of it.”

“I know what you mean. It’s the anniversary of the deaths of all the people I loved. That’s true for Kristen, too, and Bill. If you guys didn’t come, we’d all be crying in public. How long are you all here before you go back to New York this time?”

“We’re here until school starts.”