Over the next several months, other newcomers drifted into town. First Anson came, and then Maria, Steven, and Henry.

But not Richard. Richard couldn’t, he said. He was still too angry to settle somewhere, and he had taken over running the trust Alexei had set up. Everwood was not the place for him. Alexei and the rest of his coven talked about it in depth at Sarah’s kitchen table while Sarah and Molly listened.

From time to time, Sarah joined in the conversation, but Molly kept her own counsel. For one thing, her opinions weren’t necessary, and in any case, she was selfishly glad that Richard had made the choice to stay away and continue with their mission while the others took their sabbatical to decide how they wanted to move forward with their lives.

Working with Sarah as intensively as she did, Molly could feel dark, seeking tendrils of magic slide along the edges of the cloaking and obfuscation spells that Sarah and the Everwood coven had cocooned the area in for the past several decades. Everwood’s sanctuary still held, but Molly never forgot the price of what they would pay if that screen ever fell.

By actively working elsewhere, Richard would draw the attention of the Rasputin crime family away from Everwood.

At least for now. With what she now recognized was precognition, she knew another confrontation was coming—perhaps even several confrontations—but she wanted that future delayed as long as possible. They all needed as much time as they could take before that came.

Time for recovery, time for Molly to have her baby, time for her to finish her training.

Time for the all-encompassing business of living, time for joy.

As fall came, Sarah did have The Talk with Molly early one afternoon over butternut squash soup. They had just sat down to lunch. Closing her eyes, Sarah inhaled the aromatic scent of the soup and smiled with pleasure.

“I hope you like it.” Molly sliced a loaf of homemade bread. “I put some of that spelled oregano in it since it’s been doing you so much good.”

“Would you be my successor, Molly?” Sarah asked. “I have so much respect for everything you’ve gone through and everything you are. Everwood needs someone with your strength and kindness.”

“Yes,” Molly replied. “You teach me something good every day, even when you don’t mean to, and I’m deeply honored you would ask me. I could never hope to fill your shoes, and I know I have so much still to learn, but I promise I will always do my best to carry on your legacy the way you would want.”

There it was, so simply asked and so readily answered. Sarah’s dark, powerful eyes smiled with so much love and acceptance from the other side of the table as she offered to give to Molly the life that she already adored. Just like that.