LOGINAfter thanking the officers, Louis checked the time—it was already half past nine.“Let’s head home. The temperature’s dropping; I don’t want anyone catching a cold.”Marcus stood still, muttering under his breath, “But Loraine’s favorite singer hasn’t even gone on yet…”Louis turned sharply toward
“He said he was thirsty, so I went to buy him a drink. I clearly told him not to move and when I got back, he was gone!”Loraine’s face went pale with worry. “Let’s look for him right now! I saw security guards and some police officers earlier. We can ask them for help!”The three of them forgot all
Mason, the quieter and more composed one, simply listened to the music, occasionally nodding along to the rhythm.The youngest, Manuel, was too short to see the stage at all, swallowed up by the crowd and left with nothing but the thundering music pounding in his ears.Before long, he got restless.
“Marcus, every time you sneak out, you use the same excuse,” Manuel said, crossing his arms. “Can’t you at least come up with something new?”Marcus froze. Loraine quickly jumped in with a smile. “Manuel, we really do have something serious to take care of this time. It’s boring stuff. You’d have w
“Raine, look, your fingers need to lift here, then drop cleanly. Watch my hand when I play.”In the Walker family’s grand music room, young Mason was patiently teaching Loraine how to play the piano.Sunlight streamed through the tall windows, half spilling over the glossy surface of the hundred-tho
Grace tried to lift her head, but she was too weak to manage even that small movement.A nurse quickly stepped forward and raised the head of the bed so that Grace only needed to lower her gaze to see the tiny baby in Laura’s arms.“A daughter… girls are so sweet,” Grace murmured, the words faint bu
Adora heard her best friend’s voice and immediately perked up. “Why are you asking that? Don’t tell me you’re planning to send wedding invitations to all of Nathan’s exes?”Laura shot Nathan a sidelong glance, half smiling. “I actually thought about it, though I’m not sure they’d show up.”“Are you
Picturing the fiery entanglement between a young couple, Adora couldn’t help but feel a pang of longing herself. But she still had a few months of recovery to go before she could even think about such things…“You said Nathan’s been very eager—what do you mean?”“He’s been… arranging for me to meet
“No, I’ve been through bigger storms than this. Don’t worry.”Adora smiled as she answered, then shifted the topic. “Think about what we should do after dinner. It’s still early.”“Do you want to catch a movie, or take a walk by the river?” The restaurant wasn’t far from the waterfront, which was li
If his health allowed, Louis would have scooped Adora up and spun her around the room.After the checkup, they all returned together to Louis’ hospital room.The couple were still wrapped up in the joy of discovering they were having twins when Louis’ phone rang.“It’s Mom,” he said after a glance a







