He heard Steven clear his throat again. “Do you want me to push you, Blue?”

“No. I want my great-grandson to push me,” she said. “Lily, want to come with us out into the yard? Go see the dragonflies at the fountain? Take the ramp right there, William.”

He took the handles of the chair and guided her across the wood floors and down the ramp onto the grass. The wheels bumped a bit on the uneven soil, but Blue didn’t seem to mind, reaching out for Lily. The little girl took her hand.

“Go on, run now. We can talk more in a bit.”

Lily scampered across the grass. She hesitated a bit, seeing the flurry of red-and-green dragonflies hovering above the water.

“They won’t hurt you, honey, I promise,” Blue said.

She walked to the edge of the fountain, climbing to stand on the stone. Slowly, she began to walk the perimeter, making a loop around the water, grinning at the hovering insects.

“Watch your step!” Blue said.

Lily waved slightly.

“Remarkable girl, that one,” she said. “I can’t imagine what she’s been through. But look at her. That’s the wonderful thing about children: Despite whatever’s happened to her … she’s playing. Smiling. She’s just a regular child.”

“There is nothing regular about her,” Steven said, walking beside William.

“No. And she didn’t ask for it. Just like my daughter didn’t ask for it. Or you, my boy.” She reached over her shoulder to pat his hand.

“I’ve got a lot of questions.”

“I know you do. Let’s rest right over there. By the Knock Outs,” she said.

He wheeled her over to where a flourishing set of rosebushes were contained behind a knee-high iron fence. Three Adirondack chairs with thick cushions were situated before it, facing the fountain.

As Blue reached over to smell one of the blooms, William sat, watching her. “I just … I just can’t believe…”

“That I’m alive?” She laughed in a tone so similar to his grandmother’s that goose bumps raised on his arm. “It’s a good question, one I’ve asked myself more than once. I honestly wished to die so often as a young woman that maybe I cursed myself, hoping death would come for me. But I’m certainly glad it ignored me. Because here you are. I just wish your grandmother were here too.”

“She needs to know that you’re alive.”

Blue looked past him. “I’ve wanted to call her every day for the past fifteen years. As soon as I found out she was alive. No family should have endured this. But it appears this is the burden of ours.”

She turned to him. “You thought you knew her story; how your grandmother’s mother died young and she was raised by her father. Now, you’ve read what happened when we found Lynn in Mexico. We placed the letters in chronological order for obvious reasons; you see that my husband and Dr. Martin obviously believed I had died when the building collapsed. In turn, I was told they died in the hurricane. But the truth is quite different.”