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She stops. “You did?”

“Damiano described you as the little sister who could talk a dead man back to life.”

Her mouth drops open.

Behind me, Jude makes a sound suspiciously close to a laugh.

“He said that?”

“More than once.”

Grace puts a hand over her heart. “I knew he loved me.”

“He also said you used to follow all of them around and cry when they didn’t want you to tag along.”

Ethan nearly chokes on his drink.

Grace’s eyes narrow. “Okay. I’m having flashbacks.”

“He wasn’t wrong,” Jude says.

“Nobody asked you, Moody Number Two.”

I turn slowly toward Jude.

“There’s another moody?”

“Don’t,” he warns.

Oh, I’m absolutely finding out about that later.

Grace laughs, then turns back to me, her expression softening.

“I’m sorry we lost him, Nora.”

The we catches me off guard, but before I can answer, she steps closer and wraps her arms around me. I hug her back as best I can with Noah balanced against my hip.

“Thank you,” I whisper.

When she pulls away, her gaze shifts over my shoulder, and something in her expression changes. The bright smile disappears, and she quickly looks away.

“Oh, I, uh… I should go help Mama with something.”

She gives my arm a quick squeeze before hurrying toward the house.

I turn to find a tall man standing a little farther back, a small boy beside him. His eyes follow Grace for a moment before settling on me.

He’s broad through the shoulders, serious in a way that makes me straighten without knowing why. There is something about him that reminds me of Cas, that same quiet strength, except Cas watches like a sheriff and Jude watches like he’s trying to understand the world around him.

This man simply seems… solid.

“Asher,” he says when I reach him.

Of course.

Damiano talked about him too.

“Nora.”