Riley shot Harlan an annoyed look. "What are you doing here?" 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

He looked a little travel-worn, like he had rushed over from somewhere far away. But he seemed better than the last time I saw him, when he was still healing from the accident. I let out a quiet breath of relief. He had gotten hurt because of us, and if he had died, I never would have forgiven myself.

I had no idea where things stood between him and Riley, but some things you just know. You can always tell when a man has given his whole self to someone. Right now, his eyes held nothing but her.

In his hand was a food container instead of his usual briefcase. "Didn’t you say you love my cook’s food? I had him make something before I left. Kept it warm the whole drive should still be hot. Try it."

Riley’s sharp reply died in her throat. "Huh? Oh. Fine."

Harlan turned to Lewis. "I heard Riley made it back alive. Where is she? I brought something she likes."

He really had to go there, didn’t he? Riley shot him a warning look, but Harlan just frowned. "What’s wrong with your eye? Got dust in it? Want me to blow it out?" She grabbed his arm without another word and hauled him out of the room.

I turned to Lewis. "He didn’t mean anything by it. Don’t let it bother you."

"I’m fine," he said.

But he wasn’t. The weight of everything still sat heavy in his eyes, unresolved. I knew what was eating at him me and there was nothing I could do about it. I wanted to go back to my body. Something kept pulling me away every time I got close, something I couldn’t name or fight. Lewis grew quieter with each passing day.

My body was healing from childbirth. My heart was still beating. By every medical measure, I was alive. But I wouldn’t wake up. The doctors had made their decision vegetative state, they called it. They tried everything and got nothing. Lewis could only rely on a small flickering candle and the way our babies reacted to know I was still here.

As the weeks passed, their tiny eyes got stronger. At first they could only find me from a short distance. Now they tracked me from across the room, their gazes following every move I made not like they were watching something strange, but exactly the way a child looks at their mother.

The nanny would laugh softly sometimes. "Look at them. It’s like an invisible fairy is playing with the little ones." She had no idea. What they were following was me.

I thought about it often. If I could stay like this forever, maybe it wouldn’t be so terrible. But then the worry would creep in what happens when they’re older? How do they explain to the world that their mother is someone they can see but never touch?

Time moved fast. The twins were three months old before I realized it. Winter had settled deep over Snowville, heavy and unending. Christmas came back around, dragging with it the reminder of my death anniversary.

Lewis cared for my body himself, every single day. The nurses talked about it in low voices they had never seen anything like it. I stood right there beside them, nodding. I know. Even I’m surprised.

He brought the babies to the Bolton house, and Jeffrey’s whole face lit up. Even Julian had changed. He had prepared protection pendants for the twins, and his eyes were red as he listened to Lewis say their names, nodding slowly. "Good. Very good. Everett and Everly. Wonderful names." But I watched him stagger on his way out, like his legs might give under him at any moment.

The next day, my death anniversary arrived.

I had stood at funerals before when I was alive. Now, as something between here and gone, I was attending my own. A once-in-a-lifetime thing. Lewis brought the twins to my grave. Resting against the headstone was a basket of hydrangeas wrapped carefully against the frost, snow dusting the top. Julian’s figure limped away in the distance.

So he finally remembered they were my favorite. A little late, don’t you think?

I stood beside Lewis and looked at my own gravestone. The photo they chose would keep me at twenty-eight forever. I reached out and traced my fingers across my own face. It was me, and at the same time it wasn’t. I was her, and I wasn’t.

"Riley," Lewis murmured, his voice barely above a breath. "I want to live. What about you?"

He handed the twins to Theo, then knelt and carefully brushed the snow from the stone. He laid a bouquet of red roses down in front of it. "I’ll take care of the children. Don’t worry." His shoulders shook slightly. "But the new year is almost here. Can’t you come back? Just for this one? It’s our first New Year as a family."

A single tear slipped down his face and dropped into the snow.

I wrapped my arms around him from behind. Lewis. I want to come back more than anything. I want to hold you. I want to hold our babies.

I could only watch him go home and fill every corner of the house with decorations. Even without me, he made it perfect. The babies could roll over now. Outside, fireworks cracked open the sky in bursts of color. Jeffrey sighed. "New Year’s Eve. If only Riley were still here."

The light was everywhere dazzling, brilliant. Everyone turned toward the window.

Everyone except me.

I was the only one who saw it. Everett, my restless little boy, had rolled too far to the edge. The nanny had stepped away for thirty seconds. There was no one there.

My entire being seized. "Everett!"

I lunged, but he passed straight through me. His small body hit the carpet with a dull, terrible thud.

Then the wail came sharp and raw and heartbreaking.

Something tore through me. A force I didn’t understand yanked me backward, hard and sudden, like a cord snapping taut.

What’s happening

"Lewis save me!"