Chapter 48

• JESSIE'S POV
• The gentle hum of the refrigerator was the only sound in the kitchen, a soft counterpoint to the distant murmurs from the living room. Aunt Cynthia had only been with us for three days, a mere seventy-two hours by the clock, but somehow, inexplicably, it felt like she had always been here. Her presence wasn't an addition; it was a revelation, a rediscovery of a missing piece we hadn't even realized was gone until it finally settled into place.
• She had slipped into our lives like puzzle pieces long lost and finally found. There was no awkward transition, no hesitant feeling-out period. It was as if a pre-cut slot in the tapestry of our family had simply been waiting for her unique shape. And the kids, bless their open, unburdened hearts, they took to her as if their very souls had been waiting for her the whole time—and maybe they had. Maybe somewhere deep inside them, in the quiet, intuitive corners of their young minds, they always knew there was one more piece of their family, a vital, vibrant connection, waiting to be filled.