After that, some part of Molly knew that several big life events were going to come in quick succession. After she and Alexei discussed everything, they decided to have a quiet wedding that would allow them to really enjoy the day with their friends.

Molly baked her own wedding cake. Alexei asked Anson to be his best man. Sarah officiated. It rained buckets the whole day, and they rolled back the rugs downstairs so everyone could dance.

After they married, Alexei moved in. A few months later, Elisa May Volkov was born on winter solstice. Molly knew she was in labor hours before the evening gathering, but she refused to let Sarah or Alexei cancel it. She wanted to know people were enjoying themselves while she gave birth.

Frankly, it sucked. Labor was hard work and very painful, but when she finally pushed that baby out, the experience held more primal joy than anything she could remember experiencing before.

Alexei held his delicate, new daughter in his hands and said to her fiercely, “I will be the best father you could ever hope to have.”

That moment. That one moment was everything.

After the first of the year, Sarah stopped accepting treatment of any kind. When Molly, Alexei, and her nephew Sam protested, she enfolded each in a hug.

“I’m done,” she said. “I wanted to hold that new little baby and to ring in the New Year, and I’m so glad I did. But you need to understand I’m ready to go. Death has been waiting for me for a very long time, and there’s something on the other side. I don’t know what it is. None of us do, but I’m excited to see it.”

“God, when you put it like that,” Molly exploded. She had to walk away while her eyes sprang another leak. Once again, when she didn’t mean to be, Sarah was still her best teacher.

Sarah died in late January, slipping out of her body from one breath to the next. Everyone knew it was coming. The coven had kept a bedside vigil so she wouldn’t face the crossing alone.

No matter how Molly had tried to brace herself—no matter how well in advance she knew it was coming—she was still utterly devastated.

Everything had been decided, the end-of-life business done. The coven had accepted Molly as Sarah’s successor. Alexei and Molly had already purchased the grand old Victorian house, and Sarah had transferred her liquid assets to Sam. Sarah had handed the mantle of the coven’s protection spells to Molly. The only thing that remained was the hardest part.

They scattered Sarah’s ashes just as she wished, on the bluff overlooking the ocean. Hundreds of people came to pay their respects and celebrate Sarah’s life. Flowers, donations, and notes of condolences came from every one of the grand families in the witches demesne in Louisville.