Chapter 2 - The Secret of the Lullaby
Jo pulled the small cotton blanket tighter around Theo’s shoulders, her face pale under the soft hallway lights.
"They were screaming, Mr. Cole," Jo whispered, her voice laced with quiet apology. "I was folding linens in the master suite when they ran in. They said a shadow was chasing them from the nursery. They were hyperventilating... Milo couldn't catch his breath. I tried to sit them on the sofa, but they just climbed onto the bed, sobbing for their mother."
Nathaniel stared at her, his throat tight. "And what did you do?"
"I didn't try to stop them from crying," Jo said softly, setting Theo down on his feet. The little boy immediately leaned his forehead against Jo's leg, holding onto her apron like a lifeline. "I just sat beside them and sang a song my aunt used to sing when I was little. I told them their mother wasn't a shadow. I told them she was the warm breeze outside the window."
Milo looked up at his father, his eyes clear for the first time in months. "Daddy... Jo knows Mom's song."
Nathaniel felt his breath hitch in his throat. "What song?"
"The one about the little blue boat," Milo murmured softly.
Nathaniel’s heart slammed against his ribs. The Little Blue Boat. It was a quiet, private lullaby Elise had made up off the top of her head—one she had never recorded, never written down, and sang only in the quiet dark of the boys' room when they were babies.
He looked at Jo, his mind racing. "How do you know that song?"
Jo blinked, surprised. "My mother sang it to me when I was a child in South Carolina, Mr. Cole. It's an old coastal folk song."
Nathaniel stared at her, a profound realization slowly breaking through his grief. Elise hadn't made the song up out of thin air; she had learned it from her own grandmother, who had grown up on the exact same stretch of South Carolina coast where Jo was raised.
It wasn't magic, nor was it a coincidence. It was a bridge—a familiar, forgotten piece of home reaching out to comfort two broken little boys through the voice of a woman who knew what it felt like to be lost.
For the first time in fourteen months, Nathaniel didn't issue an order or check his watch. He slowly knelt down on the hard hallway floor until he was eye-level with his sons.
"Milo... Theo..." Nathaniel whispered, his eyes swimming with unshed tears. "Come here."
The two boys hesitated for half a second before rushing into their father's arms. Nathaniel pulled them against his chest, wrapping his arms around them so tightly his body shook with silent, heavy sobs.
May you like
Jo stepped back into the shadows, wiping a tear from her cheek, preparing to leave them alone.
"Jo," Nathaniel called out, his voice thick with emotion, looking up from his boys. "Don't go. Please."
