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Chapter 17:Three Years Later

Author: Lois
last update publish date: 2026-01-14 00:56:26

Caleb pov

Three Years Later

Grandmother died on a Tuesday morning in early spring. She went peacefully in her sleep, they told me, but her last words to me the previous Sunday still echoed in my mind.

"Did you find her yet?"

"No, Grandmother. I'm still looking."

She'd squeezed my hand with what little strength she had left. "Don't stop, Caleb. Promise me you won't stop."

"I promise."

At her funeral, I stood alone in my expensive black suit, surrounded by hundreds of people, and felt nothing bu
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