She cleared her throat and took the leap. “This is where I’m supposed to tell you that hard work and staying focused on your goals is how you succeed,” she began as the crowd quieted. “And while that’s true, success is only a very small part of life. That’s not how you find happiness. Because, at the end of the day, your quality of life is determined by the people you surround yourself with. The significant others, the partners, the sisters, the friends, the team you choose. The people who have your back. The people who celebrate your wins and mourn your losses with you.”

She looked at Silas and Dean and Dayana and Cody as she spoke and keenly felt their joy.

“Kinship taught me that.” A whoop went up from the crowd, and she smiled. “Maybe it’s something you already know. But it’s a truth that sooner or later we all forget. And it’s one we have to fight to remember.”

“Cody Moses,” the loudspeaker crackled.

Their section was on its feet, hooting and hollering, when he walked across the field tall and proud to accept that hard-won diploma. The team—okay, fine, the family—they’d somehow managed to build was bigger and louder than any nuclear family in attendance. Together they cheered at the top of their lungs while Cody held his diploma up and punched his fist into the air.

It was a win worth celebrating.

“Aw, crap,” Maggie gasped as her vision clouded.

Silas, grinning, pulled her into his side and planted a kiss on top of her head.

A teary-eyed Dayana blindly shoved a tissue at her.

Maggie felt like she was one of the parents in the stands. Steeped in the moment. Reveling in the accomplishment of a person they loved dearly.

Kinship’s graduating class was mercifully small, and in minutes, they were all on the field, surrounding their graduate and congratulating him. When Cody wrapped his arms around her and lifted her off the ground in a wild hug, when he whispered “thank you” in her ear, Maggie knew happiness.

His girlfriend, Jun, the adorable barista from the café, and her parents were welcomed into their raucous circle and introduced around. Maggie noted the not-my-little-girl look in Jun’s dad’s eye and decided on the spot to invite them up to the house for cake. Then she took the girl’s mom aside to warn her that it was a full-on surprise party.

Silas drove them home, celebratory music blaring through the truck’s open windows as they brought up the rear of the Campbell house convoy. Maggie covertly texted their ETA ahead to Elton, and when they turned onto the lane, Cody was busy texting Jun.

“Jun said her mom is freaking out that they get to come see the house,” he reported, intent on his phone.

“I’ll let you give them the tour,” she told him.