Every time I step into this house and breathe in that warm baby scent, the same feeling takes hold of me. It’s like the world outside peels off my skin, and I’m walking into a dream, one of those fairy tales Jayden loves me to read to him over and over.

I move quietly up the stairs and find them exactly where I knew they’d be. Claire is kneeling by the wardrobe, folding laundry on Jayden’s bed, while he sits cross-legged on the floor beside her, a book open in his hands.