Chapter 21
Tammy
My first visit to Savannah's grave after the proposal felt different.
Not happier.
Graves did not become happy because life moved forward.
But the air around it felt less like unfinished business.
I brought white roses. Rico brought red ones. Kira brought a small wind chime shaped like a heart because she said cemeteries needed better decor. Damian stood a few feet back, giving me room until I reached for him.
I placed my hand on the fresh marker.
"I'm engaged," I told my mother.
The word mother did not confuse me anymore.
I had two.
Evelyn, who packed lunches and covered lies with love.
Savannah, who hid a ledger with a piano and left me a voice telling me to live.
Neither erased the other.
That was the part I had needed time to understand.
Kira cried first, which she denied immediately.
"Allergies," she said.
Rico looked at the cloudless sky.
"Sure."
She pointed at him. "You are new. Do not start with me."
He almost smiled.
Family.
Strange, imperfect, still learning.
? ? ?
Alana called while we were driving home.
I put her on speaker.
"The first indictments are sealed," she said. "They will move within forty-eight hours."
Damian's hand tightened on the wheel.
"Who?" he asked.
"I cannot disclose all names yet. But a retired judge, two attorneys, a hospital administrator, and one former detective connected to the Lewis identity file."
Rico leaned forward from the back seat. "Detective Lewis?"
"Not charged at this stage," Alana said. "His brother's identity was used after the real brother vanished as a minor. Lewis appears to have been misled, but he will be questioned."
That mattered.
Not everything dirty was simple.
I had learned that the hard way.
Alana continued. "Nathaniel Cross is refusing formal cooperation, but your passphrase win gave us enough to stop the victim exposure packet. That saved lives, Tammy."
I looked out the window.
"My mother saved them. I just guessed what she knew."
"Do not shrink your part."
I almost smiled.
Alana sounded like Evelyn for a second.
When the call ended, Damian glanced at me.
"You okay?"
"No. But not bad."
"That's new."
"I'm allowing range."
Kira groaned from the back. "Therapy language. Look at us healing."
Rico said, "I support it."
Kira looked at him. "Do not encourage me."
Damian smiled.
I watched his profile as he drove. The scar near his rib was hidden beneath his shirt, but I knew where it was. I knew how close we had come to losing things we had not even named yet.
I reached across the console and took his hand.
He lifted our joined hands and kissed my knuckles.
No speech.
No performance.
Just us choosing ordinary in a car full of people who loved too loudly and survived too much.