Rosie looked at me for a long time.
Then she smiled weakly.
“I knew it.”
I laughed through tears.
“No, you didn’t.”
“I felt it.”
“You also thought twenty-five was old.”
“It is old when you are nine.”
Ben started laughing.
Soon all of us were laughing and crying in the middle of the neonatal intensive care unit while two tiny babies slept beneath warm lights.
Six months later, Samuel Vale and Graham Voss were indicted on charges that filled forty-two pages.
The investigation uncovered illegal human trials, bribery, attempted murder, identity fraud, and the deliberate poisoning of Rosie.
Richard pleaded guilty to financial crimes and obstruction. His cooperation reduced his sentence, but it did not erase what he had done.
Before he reported to prison, he asked Rosie and me to meet him at the lake.
We sat on the repaired dock beneath a clear autumn sky.
“I loved both of you,” he said.
Rosie folded her arms.
“You lied to both of us.”
“Yes.”
“You tried to take my money.”
“Yes.”
