“I don’t remember much about it,” she said. “We’d been to Portsmouth, New Hampshire to see Seth’s parents. I’d had a bad cold for a week and was sleeping on the way home. Someone told me later I survived because of the position I was in. I only remember Seth screaming, which woke me up. He said. . .” Her voice hitched, and for a moment she couldn’t speak.

Luke held her tight against him. “You don’t have to tell me, Syd. Not now. Not ever if you don’t want to.”

“He said the same thing you did tonight. The exact same thing. That’s the last thing I ever heard him say.”

All the air left Luke’s body in one big exhale. “Oh God. I’m so sorry. I didn’t know—”

She tipped her face up to kiss the words off his lips. “How could you? What else does one say in that situation?”

“I wish I’d said something else.”

“The car hit us from behind. We were stopped in traffic, and Seth must’ve seen him coming in the mirror. There was nothing he could do, nowhere to go. The kids were killed instantly. Seth died later, in surgery. I don’t remember anything after he screamed until I woke up in the hospital five days later.”

“I’d give everything I have to keep you from having to relive it, to go back to when we were at the point watching the sunset.”

“Please don’t beat yourself up, Luke. It’s not your fault. I live with it every day of my life.”

“Tell me about them,” he said. “About Seth and the kids. If you feel up to talking about them.”

Sydney took a deep breath and gave herself permission to remember. Thinking of them brought a small smile to her face. “Seth was the eternal optimist. Nothing ever got him down. He was full of plans and ideas and grand schemes that usually involved making money. That was his gift—investing and growing money. Everyone we knew sought his advice. I used to say the stock market was his mistress.” She laughed at the memory.

“He loved to cook—and not just regular food, but gourmet dishes that would make your mouth water just thinking about them. He played the piano and loved rugby, although he didn’t play anymore after the kids were born because he was afraid of getting hurt and not being able to care for them.”

“How’d you meet him?”

“Through my college roommate. They were cousins. Since they were both in school in Boston, he came to visit her a lot. At first I didn’t like him all that much. His eternally upbeat and happy disposition grated on my nerves. I figured he had to be fake or medicated or something, because no one is ever that happy all the time.”

“But he was?”