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"What do you want me to do? Huh? It’svoice "It’s our anniversary It’s Valentine’s Day!"

"I know that, but they don’t care When o"

She knehen he took the oath that he’d vowed to be there anytilia called on him, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, three hundred and sixty-five days a year

Vincent slowed the car when they neared the cutoff in the desert that led to Frankie Antonelli’s property They cliered by the car Vincent stepped onto the porch and knocked on the door at the sa around, he saw a frail little girl running straight at Maura, knee-high and skinny as a toothpick, her hair matted in dreadlocks She looked like a sewer rat, covered in filth

The girl, oblivious to the presence in her path, sla down Maura stuirl flew backward onto the ground Her dirt-sed nose scrunched up as she eyed the human roadblock

"You’re awfully dirty, little one," Maura said

The little girl looked down at herself "Where?"

Maura laughed as she crouched down "You’re dirty everywhere"

It only took Vincent thirty minutes to handle business that day, but it was a half hour that changed everything The girl had co upside down

At Maura’s insistence, Vincent inquired about her a week later, but Frankie informed him she wasn’t for sale No e Vincent hoped Maura would drop it, but the child became an obsession to her

And he had been oblivious to it all, living in his shell of ignorance He was a keen person, but his wife had spent her entire life wearing a h he should have been aware

He should have known she would see it as a second chance

Vincent stood up "When they come inside, tell her to come on up to my office"

"Who?"

"You knoho, Celia"

Before he turned around, he saw his sister shake her head "I still don’t understand why you never say her na an email when there was a timid tap on the door It opened slowly, and she stepped inside She was a tough girl, the type who kept secrets well A lot like his wife that way That thought ut

He ood day, child?"

"Yes, sir Thank you"

"Good May I ask you a question?"

"Of course"

"Before I brought you here, do you recall ever seeing me?"

Her face scrunched up, and he save Maura that day "No, sir," she said hesitantly

"The first time I met you, you were six years old," he said "Well, you told ers"

She looked startled "Your wife?"

"Yes, my wife," he said "I suppose you wouldn’t rey is unnecessary," he said "Anyway, the reason I asked you up here is because I have soive you"

He opened his desk drawer and pulled out the photograph, sliding it across to her "I saw your o while on business and snapped that picture"

Haven picked up the photo with a tre She traced her er "Thank you for showing me"

"You’re welcome That’s all I wanted, so you can rejoin the festivities" She stood up and glanced at the picture briefly before holding it out to hiave you a frame"

Carmine climbed out of the shower and wrapped a towel around his waist, surprised to see Haven sitting on the edge of his bed She clutched a picture, her focus squarely on it "What’s that?"

She glanced at him, her eyes bloodshot "My h hi happen to her?"

"No, it’s a picture of her Your father gave it to me"

"Well, that fully nice of hih his wet hair as he sat down beside her He reached for the picture, but she autohter in response "I just wanna see, huht back"

She s it to him

He surveyed the photo of the skinny woe wooden house Beside it was a row of old horse stables, behind thes

Haven rested her head on his shoulder "Now you see where I came from"

"I can’t believe they made you sleep outside"

"It wasn’t so bad"

"Wasn’t so bad? There’s a lothappy?"

"Happiness is nothing but good health and a poor memory"