Seven years ago, Mave Sullivan buried her husband. She identified his wrecked car, planned his funeral, scattered his ashes across the sea. She spent seven long years raising their daughter Faith alone, working double shifts, explaining why daddy wasn’t coming home. So when she serves champagne to the man in seat 3A and finds herself staring into deep amber eyes flecked with gold—eyes she knows better than her own reflection—she thinks she’s finally lost her mind.
It’s him. The way his jaw tightens before he laughs. The birthmark behind his left ear. The laugh that warms her chest even now, even after everything.
“More champagne, please,” the blonde woman beside him says. And then he looks up. His gaze slides over Mave with polite disinterest. No shock.
No recognition. “Please,” he says with a smile that doesn’t reach his eyes. Then, with a wink, he adds, “Don’t be stingy with the good stuff. ”
Something fractures inside Mave’s chest.
This casual flirtation from a man wearing her husband’s face is obscene. She pours mechanically, her hands trembling. The champagne sloshes over the rim. “Sorry,” she manages.
“No harm done,” he says. Their fingertips brush as she hands him the glass. He doesn’t feel it. He’s already turned back to the blonde, treating Mave like less than a ghost.
She barely makes it to the tiny airplane bathroom before her knees give way. Faith’s face swims in her mind—Faith, who keeps Elijah’s photo by her bed and kisses it good night. Faith, who just last week asked if daddy ever misses being able to hug them from heaven. Two irreconcilable truths wage war inside Mave.
Her husband is dead. Her husband is in seat 3A. If it’s truly him, everything has been built on lies. If it’s not him, she’s finally broken under the weight of grief she never recovered from.
When the plane lands, Mave confronts her colleague Helen. “That man, the one in 3A—I need his name, his information, everything. ”
Helen follows her gaze. “Why?
Did he do something inappropriate? ”
“Either I finally lost my mind completely,” Mave replies, “or my dead husband has faked his own death. So pretty inappropriate, yes. ”
Helen’s eyebrows rise.
“Mave, what are you talking about? ”
“Can you help me or not? ”
Helen hesitates, then nods. “I’ll see what I can find out.
Wait for me in the first class lounge. ”
Mave waits, her hands shaking. She calls Alan—her best friend, the man who was there the night of the accident, who identified the body. “Alan, I saw Elijah.
”
A long silence stretches across the line. “Elijah is dead,” Alan finally says, his voice careful. “You know that. ”
“I know what I saw.
I served him champagne. I was inches from his face. ”
“And what did he say? ”
Mave freezes.
“Nothing. He didn’t know me at all. ”
Alan sighs. “Mave, you’re working too hard.
How much sleep did you get last night? ”
“This isn’t about sleep, Alan. ”
“Remember that trip we talked about taking Faith to Disneyland? Maybe it’s time you took a break.
”
Doubt creeps in. What if Alan is right? Maybe the long hours, the constant travel, the stress of single motherhood have finally cracked something essential inside her. “That night—the body you identified,” she presses.
“Are you sure it was him? ”
“The crash was bad, Mave. The injuries were significant. But yes, I’m sure.
His father was there, too. Remember? ”
She hadn’t viewed the body herself. Couldn’t bear to see him that way.
She’d trusted Alan and Samuel West to handle the identification. “Of course,” she murmurs. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me.
”
Then Helen rushes in, slightly out of breath. “I checked the manifest like you asked. The guy’s name is Elijah Xavier West. ”
The floor drops from beneath Mave’s feet.
“Let me see,” she whispers. “He’s headed to some fancy hotel downtown, according to his booking details,” Helen explains. Mave can barely breathe. She just convinced herself she was hallucinating.
But hallucinations don’t book first-class tickets under their real names. “Helen, I need you to cover for me with the captain. Tell him I got sick. Anything.
”
“What? We have a turnaround in seventy minutes. ”
“I know, and I’m sorry. But I need to find him.
”
Helen’s gaze is penetrating. “What are you planning to do? ”
“I don’t know. Get answers.
Faith deserves answers. ”
—
The taxi costs more than Mave’s monthly car payment. She doesn’t care. Her husband is alive, and she’s going to find out why.
The hotel lobby gleams with polished marble and soft lighting. Mave approaches the reception desk, suddenly conscious of her rumpled flight attendant uniform. “I need to see one of your guests,” she says. “Elijah West.
”
The receptionist’s smile doesn’t waver, but caution settles behind her eyes. “I’m sorry, but we don’t provide information about our guests. ”
“Please,” Mave whispers. She pulls out a worn photograph of Elijah on their last anniversary.
“This is my husband. ”
Something in her raw, unfiltered pain makes the receptionist hesitate. Then Mave spots him. Elijah stands near the elevator bank, checking his watch.
He’s changed since the flight—dark jeans, a gray cashmere sweater. The blonde is nowhere to be seen. She moves across the lobby like a sleepwalker. Stops just behind him, close enough to catch the faint scent of his cologne.
“Elijah,” she says. He turns, brow furrowed. “Yes? ”
For one heartbreaking second, Mave thinks she sees something flicker behind his eyes.
But then his expression shifts to mild surprise. “Oh,” he says, recognition flashing across his face. “It’s you. ”
Mave gasps.
“You remember me? ”
“Of course,” Elijah shrugs. “The flight attendant from the plane. ”
The relief vanishes as quickly as it came.
“The flight attendant? ” she repeats flatly. “That’s it? That’s all you got?
”
“What do you mean pretending to be dead? ” he asks, baffled. “I haven’t been pretending anything. I’ve just been walking around like a very alive person.
”
The flippant response ignites something in Mave. It’s so quintessentially Elijah—that slightly bratty smartass tone, his classic defense mechanism. “Where were you? ” she demands, her voice breaking.
“How could you do this to me? ”
“Do what? I’ve been plenty of places. You’d have to be more specific.
”
Before she can think, Mave’s palm connects with his cheek in a sharp crack that echoes through the lobby. Elijah barely flinches. Only his eyes react—flashing momentarily from brown to a luminous gold as his pupils dilate. A split-second tell, gone almost before it appears.
But Mave catches it. His eyes used to do that. She’d never met anybody else whose eyes could do that. “I have no idea who you are,” Elijah says softly.
“You think I wouldn’t recognize my own husband? ”
“You think I wouldn’t know if I’d gotten married? ” he counters. Mave wants to shake him.
“You’re Elijah Xavier West,” she begins. “Son of Samuel and Diana West. Born May 17th. Takes your coffee black, except on Sundays when you inexplicably want cream.
You have a birthmark shaped like a butterfly on your lower back. You hate cilantro. You sleep with the window open even in winter. You fold your socks instead of rolling them.
And when you’re startled, your eyes flash gold—just like they did when I slapped you. ”
Elijah goes completely still. A predator’s stillness that has nothing to do with the casual, charming man he presents to the world. He grasps her elbow and steers her toward a quiet alcove behind the fireplace.
“Who are you? ” he asks, all pretense gone. “My name is Mave. I buried you.
I scattered your ashes across the sea. I’ve spent seven years explaining to our daughter why her daddy isn’t coming home. ”
“Our daughter,” Elijah repeats, unimpressed. “Faith.
She just turned seven last month. ”
Something flickers across Elijah’s face. Uncertainty. Then his expression hardens.
“I don’t know you,” he insists. “I’ve never seen you before in my life. ”
Security guards appear behind him. Mave throws the photograph of Faith at him—her school portrait, missing front tooth and all.
“She looks just like you,” she says. “In case you ever wondered, now you won’t have to come see for yourself. ”
She turns and walks away, her spine rigid despite the storm raging inside her. —
Elijah doesn’t move for several minutes after the woman storms out.
The photograph in his hand weighs more than it should. A small girl with dark hair and unmistakable features stares back at him. She has his eyes and his mother’s dimples. The resemblance is impossible to reconcile with the blank space in his memory where this woman should exist.
He’s a shifter—a wolf. He doesn’t sleep with humans. Ever. Human women don’t survive bearing shifter children.
The pregnancy alone usually kills them. And if she somehow survived the birth, she couldn’t be allowed to raise a shifter child—one accidental bite during the child’s first shift would be fatal. Elijah wouldn’t do that to someone. He wouldn’t get a human pregnant and then abandon her to face those dangers alone.
Yet the child in this photograph looks exactly like him. He reaches for his phone. “I need you to look into someone,” he tells his assistant. “The flight attendant from earlier.
Her name is Mave. ”
—
Two days later, Elijah stands across the street from an elementary school, watching children spill from the building in a chaotic wave. His hands are shaking. What if she really is his daughter?
What if approaching her traumatizes a child who thinks her father is dead? Then Faith emerges from the main doors. She gestures animatedly as she talks to her friends, drawing them into whatever story she’s telling with natural charisma. Elijah moves closer, staying behind the chain-link fence.
As Faith gets closer, the wind shifts, carrying her scent directly to him. Recognition slams into him with devastating certainty. This child carries his genetics as surely as if she’d been born with his name tattooed on her forehead. But she is also completely human.
No wolf. No trace of any supernatural ability. Shifter genes are dominant. Overwhelmingly so.
Yet here she is—his daughter, human. Somehow, by some miracle, she escaped the burden of his nature. The relief crashes over him so intensely it nearly brings him to his knees. She’ll never have to worry about losing control.
She’s just a normal human child. He takes a step toward the fence. Then reality crashes back. What would he say?
How do you explain to a seven-year-old that her world isn’t what she thought it was? What place does he have in her life? Maybe the kindest thing he can do is walk away. He forces himself to turn.
He’s taken three steps toward his car when he hears it. “Daddy. ”
The word stops him cold. Faith stands pressed against the chain-link fence, her small hands wrapped around the metal links.
Her eyes—his eyes—are wide with recognition. “Daddy,” she asks again, voice full of hope. “It is you. I knew it.
I told Mommy I saw you in my dreams, but she said you were in heaven. ”
She starts climbing the fence with fearless determination. “That’s my daddy! ” she points at him, clinging to the fence.
Faith makes the decision for him. With a final heave, she makes it over the fence and launches herself at him. Pure instinct makes him catch her. She wraps her arms around his neck and buries her face against his shoulder.
Every protective instinct he never knew he possessed roars to life. “I knew you weren’t really dead,” she whispers against his ear. “I told Mommy you were coming back, but she didn’t believe me. ”
Elijah closes his eyes and holds her tighter.
“I’m here,” he manages. “I’m here now. ”
And then he catches another familiar scent on the afternoon breeze. One that makes his body go rigid.
Mave. —
Mave rounds the corner of the school building at a near run, her face a mask of panic that transforms into fury the moment she spots him holding Faith. “What do you think you’re doing? ” she demands.
“Put her down now. ”
Faith turns toward her mother with bright eyes. “Mommy, look. Daddy came back.
”
“That is not your father,” Mave says firmly. “Come here, baby. ”
“But Mama—”
“Now, Faith. ”
Faith reluctantly allows herself to be transferred from Elijah’s arms to her mother’s.
She keeps looking back at him with confusion and hurt. “You said she was mine,” Elijah says quietly. “I couldn’t just leave her here, not knowing. ”
“And why not?
That’s exactly what you’ve been doing for the past seven years, isn’t it? ”
“I didn’t know about her. You never reached out. ”
“Because I thought you were dead.
”
Elijah grimaces. “I have no memory of you. And it doesn’t help that you’ve made up this entire relationship we never had. ”
Mave’s jaw drops.
“I haven’t made up anything. If you don’t believe me, ask your father. ”
“Stay away from us,” she throws over her shoulder. “I mean it.
”
She strides across the playground with Faith in her arms. Elijah watches her go, his wolf snarling at the idea of being separated from his daughter. Then he catches a familiar scent on the wind. Another shifter.
Across the parking lot—Allan. His childhood friend and pack brother. Elijah raises his hand to wave. But Allan isn’t looking his way.
Allan reaches Mave with easy familiarity, hugs her, greets Faith with the casual affection of someone who’s done this countless times before. He knows them. And he never said a word to Elijah. Allan’s head turns.
His eyes find Elijah’s. Then he hurries into the car and starts the engine with sudden panicked urgency. “Wait! ” Elijah yells, breaking into a run.
Faith presses her face to the rear window and waves. Mave just shakes her head and gives him the finger. Allan guns the car, tires squealing as he disappears. —
Mave barks at Allan as he speeds through residential streets.
“See? I told you it was him. But you weren’t shocked to see Elijah alive, were you? ”
“I didn’t want to believe it,” Allan says, his knuckles white on the wheel.
“You saw him and you ran. You ran because you knew he was alive. ”
“Mave…”
“Stop the car, Allan. Right now.
”
Allan jerks the wheel to the right, pulling into an empty parking lot. He puts the car in park but doesn’t turn off the engine. “Yes,” he says finally. “I lied.
But it was for your own good, Mave. For Faith’s good. ”
“For my own good? Alan, I mourned him.
I’ve been raising his daughter alone, thinking he was dead. ”
“I know what it cost you. ”
“Then why? Why would you do that to me?
To Faith? ”
He glances back at Faith, who’s humming and playing with a small toy. “Can we drop her off at your mother’s first? ”
The ten-minute drive to her mother’s house passes in tense silence.
Mave’s mother takes one look at her face and agrees to keep Faith for the evening without asking questions. Back in the car, the silence feels suffocating. “My place,” Mave says. “And then you’re going to tell me everything.
”
When they walk into her apartment, Mave demands, “Talk. ”
Allan runs his hands through his hair. “Elijah isn’t who you think he is. He put you in terrible danger, Mave.
Both of you. ”
“What are you talking about? ”
“It wouldn’t make sense if I just explained it. I’d need to show you.
”
He starts unbuttoning his shirt. “What are you doing? ”
“Trust me. I need you to see this.
”
“Allan, stop. ”
But he’s already stripping out of his clothes. “Look me in the eyes, Mave. Just watch, and try not to scream.
”
The change starts in his eyes. His face begins to elongate, his jaw pushing forward as his teeth sharpen into fangs. Mave’s brain refuses to process what she’s seeing. Allan drops to his hands and knees as his spine arches and stretches.
Fur erupts across his skin in a wave of sandy brown and gray. His limbs reshape themselves with wet, organic sounds that make her stomach lurch. Within moments, where Allan knelt, a massive wolf now crouches. —
Elijah’s hands shake as he dials his father’s private number.
“Samuel West. ”
“It’s me,” Elijah says without preamble. “We need to talk. ”
“Elijah, where the hell are you?
You were supposed to be at the Harrow funeral an hour ago. The pack is asking questions. ”
“Forget the funeral. I want to know why Allan is hanging around a human woman who claims I’m supposed to be dead.
”
Silence stretches across the line. “How did you find out? ” his father asks eventually. “You knew,” Elijah murmurs.
“You knew. ”
“I ran into her by accident. She claimed we were married. ”
“It’s true,” Samuel admits.
“You were married in secret against pack law and against my explicit orders. ”
“How could you not tell me that? ”
“How could you not tell me you were dating a human woman? You knew I’d forbid it.
You broke pack law. I told you if you went through with it, I’d banish you from the pack. You left us—the pack, your mother—all for this girl. ”
Elijah’s mind reels.
If he’d been willing to give up everything for Mave, he must have really loved her. “You were in a car accident,” his father explains. “Allan found you and rescued you. You’d lost all your memories of her.
”
“So you decided not to tell me about her? ”
“It was like you’d never met her,” Samuel says. “You remembered everything else—pack events, business deals, everything except her. I thought if you came back to us, you’d realize your place was here.
”
“So you told her I died? ”
“Yes. ”
The betrayal cuts deep. “How could you?
I’ll never forgive you for this. ”
“Oh, come on. You know the law. She’s human.
She’s better off without you. ”
“You couldn’t even have known Faith wouldn’t turn out a shifter. What were you planning to have her kidnapped if she were? Is that why you have Allan tailing her?
”
“Wait. Are you saying the girl was pregnant? ”
“Oh, come off it, Dad. As if you didn’t know.
”
His father goes completely quiet. “There was a baby? ”
Then his mother’s voice fills the line. “Allan has been watching Mave for us for years.
We thought we owed her that much—protection. Allan offered. ”
“Allan has been hanging around Mave for years,” his mother continues, her voice horrified. “He has to know about the baby.
”
“She’s not a baby anymore,” Elijah bites back. “She’s seven. ”
The implications hit like dominoes falling. Allan kept Mave and Faith’s existence hidden from him.
From his parents. He’s been the only one who knew all the pieces of this puzzle. “Allan has been playing all of us,” Elijah realizes. “But why?
” Diana asks. “What could Allan possibly gain? ”
“I don’t know. But he saw me today, and he ran.
He took my daughter and drove away like his life depended on it. ”
—
Allan transforms back into his human form. Mave stares at him, her mind reeling. “Faith was right,” she mutters.
“My seven-year-old knew before I did. ”
“We’re not supposed to tell humans about what we are,” Allan says, pulling his shirt over his head. “Who’s we? ”
“Shifters.
We organize ourselves into packs. Each pack has an alpha who enforces our laws. My alpha, Samuel West, has forbidden me to—”
“Wait,” Mave interrupts. “Are you telling me Elijah is like you?
”
“He is. And it’s illegal for shifters to have children with humans,” Allan says. “A human very rarely survives bearing a shifter child. Getting pregnant from Elijah should have killed you, Mave.
”
The pieces click together with devastating clarity. Elijah’s reaction when she told him about the pregnancy—not joy, but horror. His desperate insistence that she couldn’t keep the baby. “That lying scumbag,” she exclaims.
“He never told me. ”
“Exactly. He started a relationship with you against orders and then made the mistake of getting you pregnant. Do you have any idea the danger he put you in?
”
“Is that why he pretended to be dead all these years? ”
“No. ” The voice comes from behind them, low and furious. Mave spins around.
Elijah stands in her doorway, his eyes blazing with anger. “I never pretended to be dead,” he says, stepping in. “Something happened to me. Some sort of accident—I lost my memory of you and Faith.
My father decided it would be better if you thought I was dead. And he helped him convince you. ”
He points an accusing finger at Allan. “Meanwhile, never telling my father you were pregnant with our child.
”
The betrayal is so complete, so overwhelming that Mave can barely speak. “How did you find us? ” she asks. “I tracked you,” Elijah says, giving Allan a menacing look.
Allan moves protectively in front of Mave. Suddenly both men are shouting at each other. “You’ve been lying to me for seven years,” Elijah roars. “Keeping me away from my family.
”
“Your family? You put her in danger. You were selfish, reckless. ”
“You let my daughter grow up without her father.
”
“I was protecting them. From you. ”
“Meanwhile, you never had the courage to approach her at all. But you wanted to, didn’t you, Allan?
”
Allan’s mouth snaps shut. “You loved her. That’s what this is about. ”
Allan looks at Mave with anguish in his eyes.
“Yes. It’s true. I saw you first, and I loved you first. But I knew the rules.
”
“Is that why you had my memory erased? ” Elijah demands. “In this supposed accident? ”
“No,” Allan screams.
“You had your own memory erased. ”
Both Mave and Elijah stare at him in stunned silence. “You were growing weaker because of the pregnancy,” Allan continues. “Elijah was desperate to save you.
He went to see a magician who can grant any wish—but for a price. ”
“What kind of price? ” Mave asks. “He granted Elijah’s wish to ensure Faith would be human and you would survive the pregnancy.
But in doing so, Elijah lost his memories of Mave. ”
Elijah’s voice is hollow. “And I asked my good friend Allan to tell me everything and bring me back to Mave. ”
“But you didn’t,” Mave says quietly.
“Because he didn’t deserve you,” Allan insists. “He put you in danger. He almost killed you. I’ve loved you since the first moment I saw you, Mave.
I just wanted what’s best for you. ”
“Then why didn’t you make the wish? ”
Allan recoils. “What?
”
“What’s best for me is for my daughter to grow up with her father by her side,” Mave says, her voice growing stronger. “Surely if you love me, you know that’s all I ever wanted. ”
Allan goes pale. “Why didn’t you make the wish?
” Mave presses. “Faith and I would have been fine, and Elijah would have been with us, and you would have lost your memories of me. ”
“Maybe not,” Allan admits reluctantly. “The price is what you love most.
”
Mave smiles grimly. “Well then, if you’re not sure that’s me, then you can’t claim you loved me as much as he did. ”
She points to Elijah. “You could have spared me the grief.
You could have told Elijah the truth. You say you did that out of love, but that’s a lie, and you know it. ”
Allan reaches for her, desperation in his eyes. Elijah throws himself forward, restraining him.
“Stay away from her,” Elijah snarls. Mave meets Allan’s eyes, her heart shattered—not by his love, but by his betrayal. For seven years, she raised their daughter alone while her father was kept away by the very person she trusted most. She never wants anything more to do with him.
—
Three months pass like a dream twisted into something Mave can’t quite name. Faith now has the real thing—a father who looks at her with wonder in his eyes, as if he can’t believe something so perfect could exist. “Higher, Daddy. Higher,” she squeals on the park swing.
Elijah catches Mave’s eye and immediately adjusts his push. He respects her boundaries, never questions, never challenges. That’s the problem, isn’t it? He’s still him.
The same man, but with a hole where she used to be. Sometimes she catches him watching her with something that might be attraction. But it isn’t love. Not the love that made him sacrifice everything.
One evening, a knock at the door distracts Mave. No one’s there—just a small envelope on the welcome mat. Her name is written in familiar handwriting that makes her stomach clench. Allan.
Later, after Faith is in bed, she opens the envelope with trembling hands. A note falls out: “Mave, you were right. I didn’t love you the way you deserved. I’ll fix everything.
This letter was always meant for you. I’m sorry I kept it from you. ”
A second, older envelope falls out, yellowed slightly with age. Her name is written in handwriting she would recognize anywhere.
Elijah’s handwriting. Mave’s hands shake so badly she can barely open it. “Freckles. Before you, I was a shadow moving through a world I didn’t belong in.
I had everything and nothing at once, and none of it mattered until that afternoon when you knelt beside my broken-down car, grease smudged across your cheek. ”
Her eyes fill with tears. “Now you’re carrying our child and it’s killing you, Mave. Every day you grow weaker, and there’s nothing the doctors can do because they don’t understand what’s happening.
As I write this, you’re sleeping deeply. You won’t wake until this is fixed. The magician was brutally clear: our daughter can be human. You can survive.
But the price is what I love most in this world. You. After tonight, I won’t remember you. I won’t remember how your hair smells like rain, or how you cry at dog food commercials and pretend you don’t.
All of it gone. ”
Mave presses a hand to her mouth. “I will be nothing without these memories, Freckles. But I’m giving them up freely, because a world where you exist—even one where you hate me—is infinitely better than one where you don’t.
You’ll be alive, and our daughter will be safe. That has to be enough. I will find my way back to you, Mave Sullivan. I may not remember your name or your face, but my soul will know yours.
And if someday you can find it in your heart to let me love you again, I will spend every moment making up for what I’ve lost. Forever yours, even when I don’t know it. Elijah. ”
Tears stream down Mave’s face.
—
Days pass. The letter burns a hole in Mave’s pocket. She can’t bring herself to show Elijah. She doesn’t think she can start over.
She doesn’t think she could stand to lose him a second time. Then one night, Faith is showing Elijah her newest treasures over dinner. “This is where I’m going to write all my wolf stories,” Faith explains, flipping to a fresh page. “Because wolves are the best animals.
Like you, Dad. ”
Elijah smiles fondly. His gaze drifts up, meeting Mave’s across the table. Suddenly, his expression freezes.
His glass slips from his fingers. “Dad? ” Faith’s voice wavers. “Are you okay?
”
Elijah doesn’t respond. He just keeps staring at Mave with an intensity that makes her skin prickle. Mave rises from her chair and moves around the table. She touches his arm—the first deliberate contact she’s initiated since his return.
He blinks rapidly, his eyes locking onto hers. His mouth opens and closes. Then he whispers, “Freckles? ”
Mave’s breath catches in her throat.
“What did you just say? ”
The nickname—her nickname—hangs in the air between them. Elijah reaches for her, his hand trembling. Slowly, with aching care, he touches a strand of her hair, twisting it gently between his fingers.
“It’s not pink anymore,” he says, his voice rough with emotion, tears filling his eyes. Mave begins to cry, remembering the pink hair she’d had when they’d been together. “What is it? What’s happening?
” Faith asks. “I like it,” Elijah says, still holding the strand of her hair. “I always liked your natural color. ”
He drops the strand like it burns him.
Guilt and shame cross his features. He opens his mouth—and Mave knows he’s about to apologize. Before he can speak, Mave leans forward and presses her lips to his. The kiss is desperate.
Seven years of longing poured into a single moment. His arms wrap around her immediately, pulling her closer, holding her like he’ll never let go again. Faith squeals, clapping her hands in delight. When they finally break apart, both breathing hard, tears streaming down their faces, Mave cups his face in her hands.
She stares into the eyes that have haunted her dreams for seven years—sees the love and recognition shining there. Somehow, against all odds, he’s come back to her. “Your father is home,” she tells Faith, her eyes never leaving Elijah’s. “He’s finally home.
”
