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Dave must have recently made coffee. The aroma still lingered in the air, with the faint smell of burnt toast layered underneath.

Toast. How were they cooking without power? Where did the bread come from?

I hadn’t realised how much I’d missed normal smells until they were all around me.

With a slow breath, I searched for more signs of Sadie.

A timber dining table sat opposite a country kitchen, with an upturned mug on a tea towel beside the sink. On the other side of the room, a huge caramel-coloured lounge surrounded a stone fireplace where logs crackled, filling the room with heat.

The fire made the entire place feel alive, and my bones immediately began to thaw.

When I spotted Sadie’s scarf draped over the end of the couch, the ache in my chest deepened.

Luke stopped at the hallway entrance with Tim and Varesh, waiting for Dave to point them in the right direction.

“Hang on a minute,” Dave said to Norm as the dog nudged his leg. He approached Luke and carefully lifted Tim’s arm off his shoulder. “You stay here with Ava,” he said. “I’ll send Sadie out while we’re getting your friend sorted.”

Luke opened his mouth to object, but then locked eyes with me and handed Tim over with a quiet, “I’ll come see you in a minute.”

“I should… hope so.”

“Let’s get you comfortable,” Varesh said. “You can tell your jokes from bed.”

Luke crossed the room until he was standing beside me, his features tense as we faced the hall. He clasped my hand, thumb brushing my knuckles. “I don’t like leaving him.”

“I know.” Tim struggled toward the bedroom, his arms draped over Varesh and Dave.

Anticipation hummed alongside the sadness, and I’d never been torn in two different directions like this before.

“You’re shaking,” Luke said.

“Am I?”

He tightened his hold. “Take a deep breath. Let it out nice and slow.”

I inhaled a lungful of air that hitched on the exhale. “How was that?”

The edge of his mouth quirked. “Terrible.”

Dave stopped partway down the hall, tapping on a closed door as he supported Tim. “Theo.”

I strained to hear the response, hungry for the smallest sign from my sister.

“Yeah?” a sleepy male voice answered.

“Come out here.”

“It’s the crack of dawn.”

Dave tapped again, and a baby’s cry came from inside this time.

I looked at Luke. A baby? He shrugged.

“If you’re wondering why I held off on coming here all these months,” Theo said, “this—this is why.”

Dave shook his head as if he was used to his son’s comments. “We’ve got visitors.”

He waited until movement came from the other side of the door, then shuffled along to the next bedroom with Varesh and Tim.