Chapter 4 - THE WRITING ON THE WALL
By midnight, the penthouse was quiet.
Marcus walked down the carpeted hallway toward the guest wing. The door to the bedroom was cracked open, casting a warm, amber glow across the corridor.
Inside, Mrs. Gable had done miracles. Emma was dressed in a soft, pink cotton nightgown that belonged to Lily. She was fast asleep in the center of the queen-sized bed, her small chest rising and falling peacefully, still clutching her worn teddy bear.
Lily lay right beside her, an arm thrown protectively over Emma’s waist, snoring softly.
Marcus stood in the doorway, a heavy lump forming in his throat. He reached out, gently pulling the blanket up over Emma’s shoulders, brushing a stray dark curl away from her forehead.
She stirred slightly, murmuring something unintelligible in her sleep, and her tiny hand reached out, wrapping her fingers around Marcus’s thumb just as Lily had done a thousand times before.
A tear—the first he had shed in seven years—slipped down Marcus’s cheek.
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He didn't wipe it away. He stood there in the quiet dark, guarding his daughters, knowing that his life had irrevocably changed.
The ghost of Grace had finally come home.
