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Bryce's voice dropped lower.

"The company's gone. My parents blame Diana and Lily for everything. They want me to divorce her, but Lily won't let me — she lost the baby, she says no one will want her now, and she just —" He trailed off. "It's like living in a cage. And Lily keeps sending money home to her brothers. Cherries, organic eggs, new trainers — nothing is too small to ship. It's endless."

A pause.

"Zara. I know what I did. I know I have no right to ask. But you're not married yet, are you? If things with Lily were resolved — if I were free — could you consider —"

A voice reached him through the phone.

"Zara — shall we do the engagement photos at Snæfellsjökull? I've been looking at flights and the light there in the summer is extraordinary."

I turned to look at Julian Davenport — Gerald's very thorough and well-researched recommendation, a man the twins adored and Caroline had described as having good instincts and better manners — and said:

"Yes. You decide. I trust you."

There was silence on the other end of the line.

After a while, I picked it back up.

"Don't call this number again."

I hung up and blocked the contact.

Julian reached over and wiped a smear of dust off my temple, then laced his fingers through mine and pulled me gently toward the part of the field where the volunteers needed help.

There'd been a time when the injury in my leg was the most obvious thing wrong with my life. But it had never been the only thing.

Both had healed now, in their own time, in the right order.

The days ahead had the specific quality of things that are worth looking forward to.