My mouth tipped up as my oldest granddaughter sprinted through the yard. Sera’s long hair trailed behind her as she chased Beck and Eva’s oldest, three-year-old Maddie. Sera took after Aiden. A permanent solemn expression that broke into a grin when she was around her cousins. But around her two-year-old brother, Rand, and six-month-old sister, Lily, she took her big-sister responsibility seriously. As for Maddie, that girl took after Beck—she was an angel when we were looking and liked to get into trouble when we weren’t. One thing I was certain of was that Maddie would be able to reprogram my computer by the time she was ten.

Bristol and Dawson’s boy, Daniel, tried to join in on the fun with Sera and Maddie but kept getting distracted by bugs crawling on the ground. His coppery hair gleamed under the May sun as he bent to inspect his new find. Bristol stepped out of the house with baby Emmaline strapped to her chest. Bright orange hair stuck out of the navy-blue baby wrap. She handed Daniel a cup of milk and wandered to the flower beds. Squatting, one arm wrapped around her precious bundle, she pulled a few weeds.

For years, those flower beds had sat empty. Dawson and Bristol might not care one bit about flowers, but with Savvy’s help, they now had basil, oregano, tomatoes, mint, peppers, and whatever else Dawson had requested.

As if my thought conjured her, Savvy stepped out of the back of the house with Kendall trailing her. Savvy carried one of her and Xander’s one-year-old twins and Kendall carried the other. Jasper had my name as his middle name. Jet’s middle name was Savvy’s dad’s name, Walter. The son I worried I’d never connect with had named a son after me.

My chest got tight and it had nothing to do with clogged arteries.

Kendall spotted me and set Jet down next to where Savvy was letting Jasper play in the grass. She strutted over to me, her hips swaying, a warm smile on her face.

“The service was beautiful.”

I dipped my head. “Emilia would’ve hated it.”

“Yep. But she would’ve secretly thought she deserved it.”

“You know… I resented her a lot more than I thought.” All those years getting driven into the ground by the company. The drama around each and every trust because she couldn’t stand to lose the money. The way she’d never seemed to want to be close to us, her only living relatives. She’d done it all for her family. I saw that now. “But I owe her everything.”

“None of us agreed with how she fought for the company and the money, but we’ve sure reaped the rewards.”