Page 75 of The Locksmith's Promise

But she deserved complete honesty. “Yes,” I amended.

She moved in close and whispered vehemently. “I wish with everything in me that things had been different. I wish I had tried harder, that your dad didn’t interfere, that my parents had told me what they knew of your story. And I wish there was some way I could make it up to you.”

I wrapped my arms around her. “Maggie,” I whispered. “We just need to focus on the future and let the past go. There’s nothing good to be found in looking back.”

Head tilting to the side, she eyed me with a sad but tender smile on her face. “Do you want to have a movie night? On the weekend?”

I took the change of subject in stride. So long as we were moving forward, I was happy. “I’d like that.”

“I’ll get my parents to take Corwin. You come here, okay?”

I tightened my hold on her and wagged my eyebrows. “I’d like that, too.”

She laughed softly, her face tipped up to mine.

“Ew,” Corwin groaned. “Just, ew.”

No matter what he said, the joy on his freckled face shouted louder.

And Maggie’s laugh underlined everything.

A few days later, Maggie linked her fingers through mine and led me to her couch where she stopped and faced me.

“Okay,” she began, pushing me back on the couch and settling in beside me. “If at any time it becomes too much, I’ll turn it off.”

“Okay…” I trailed off, uncertain where she was heading.

Lifting the TV controller, she pressed play.

Flailing fists, tiny feet, and a red, screwed-up face filled the screen.

I gasped, falling forward off the couch onto my knees, reaching for the screen as if I could touch him. “Is that Corwin?”

Voice thick, she replied, “At the hospital, just a few hours old.”

“He’s beautiful,” I gulped.

The camera panned across to Maggie reclining in her hospital bed, dark circles under her eyes, the merest hint of a curve to her lips.

“You look tired,” I murmured.

She laughed lightly. “Well, it was hard work.”

Maggie rose from the bed and swaddled him, then her parents took turns manning the camera and holding Corwin.

The TV went black.

A soft sound of protest escaped my throat before the tv lit up again, this time in what I suspected was Maggie’s apartment.

Again and again the TV went black only to burst into colour and light with another vignette from the past.

My eyes stung; I’d barely blinked. I didn’t want to miss a single second of Corwin growing up on the screen in front of me.

I watched in wonder as he army-crawled across the floor before pushing up to his knees to rock back and forth.

I laughed as he crawled across the floor faster than I believed possible.

Stared, dumbstruck, at his gummy grin.

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