Mrs. Mitchell, who lived several houses away, later told me Katherine and her husband had left town to start over in another state.
Months later, I stood beside the rebuilt pool, watching my four children splash and laugh beneath the summer sun.
I crouched and rested my hand on the concrete edge Steve had once smoothed with his own hands.
“I protected it,” I whispered. “I protected what you left us.”
The water sparkled in the light.
My children’s laughter filled the backyard again.
And for the first time, real peace settled over our home.
