Chapter 127

Prologue ELIJAH—AGE 28, NEW YEAR’S EVE Ilook out the window and watch the fireworks explode over the city. New York at night is always stunning, but the explosion of color flashing over the skyline takes the view up a notch. All the way to awe-inspiring. I’ve loved fireworks for as long as I can remember, but tonight they only make me feel sad. They remind me of when we were kids. Of when she was still with us. This now deathly quiet house was always so full of laughter and music, the happy sound of family and friends celebrating New Year’s together. My younger brothers and I would drive our mom crazy, five overexcited miscreants tugging at her party dress, demanding it was time for the fireworks—now, now, now! Inevitably, she gave in. She loved us too much to say no, and we would end up setting them off before midnight. We’d whoop and holler as they shot up into the night sky, the grown-ups all laughing at our enthusiasm. That’s what I’m seeing out there tonight. Every bang and sparkl