Chapter 66

• Stacey’s POV:
• The wooden slats of the front porch creaked under our weight, but neither of us paid them any mind. A late afternoon hush had settled around the cabin, the kind of silence that hung heavy and expectant, like the air before a storm. The forest was calm. A soft breeze rustled through the pine trees and carried the scent of earth, pine needles, and faint smoke from the morning's fire. I held a mug of chamomile tea in my hands, not for the taste, but for the warmth, it gave me something to hold onto, something to keep my hands from trembling.
• Noah’s mom sat beside me, her posture regal even in rest. She had that poised calmness some mothers possessed, especially the ones who’d been through life’s hard lessons and come out the other side with a spine made of steel and a heart stitched up but still beating. Her eyes scanned the horizon as if trying to catch sight of something just out of reach.