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When they reached Miriam’s closed door, she leaned her head against it.

“I’m not ready for this day to be over,” Miriam said, softly. “I’m afraid I’m going to wake up and it will all be gone, like Peter inThe Snowy Day.”

“When Peter wakes up, the world is still covered in snow, remember. You’re going to wake up and still have Carrigan’s,” Noelle reassured her, as she smoothed Miriam’s curls away from her face. She couldn’t help getting distracted and winding one around her finger.

“And you? Will I still have you?” Miriam looked at her with those giant eyes, and Noelle leaned down to kiss her forehead.

“You will still have me tomorrow.”

She meant to brush her lips against Miriam’s to say goodnight. Instead, the taste of Miriam’s lips trapped her, the gentle pressure lingering. They wrapped themselves around each other, and kissed, tired and gentle, in the silence of the witching hour, for a very long time.

“Go. To. Bed,” Noelle said, when she finally dragged her head up.

“Come with me,” Miriam pleaded, and Noelle started to protest.

“Just to sleep. I was so scared you would never hold me again.” Miriam tugged at her hand, and Noelle relented.

As long as they were in the same hotel, it seemed like a terrible waste of hours not to be holding each other.

“Sweet!” Miriam whispered. “Makeup sex in the morning.”

The new year dawned earlier than any of them were ready for it to. The dining room had to be cleared of sleepers to make room to serve brunch, and people propped themselves up against walls and under tables, nursing hangovers and Bellinis. Mrs. Matthews set out a buffet on the sideboard before sitting down to chat with Jason’s mother and Ziva, both regally perched in actual chairs, sipping coffee amid the chaos. Mr. Matthews brought his wife a plate, and they smiled at each other like they’d fallen in love yesterday.

Noelle watched them and thought that all of this had been worth it to see the weight lifted off their shoulders. Grant Matthews, the Big Kid of the current pack at age seven, was herding the Green twins away from the sugar bowls and coming up with endless new ideas to keep them occupied.

“That was us,” Hannah said, sitting next to her at a back table. “I was the Responsible One, trying to keep Esther and Joshua out of the grown-ups’ hair.”

“Ah, so they’re the reason you were a tiny adult even as a kid,” Noelle nodded.

“Well, yes and no,” Hannah said. “Miri or Blue were too busy making trouble to do it. The more things change…”

Noelle looked at Miriam, who was holding court over the now fully integrated group of Old Ladies, distinguishable only by who was drinking morning champagne versus strong coffee.

“Some things changed,” Noelle observed. “And it’s a new year. Who knows what miracles it holds? We already saved the farm. I fell in love. Levi Blue may yet grow up and start being responsible to the people he loves. Stranger things have happened.”

She personally doubted this very much, and would be perfectly happy if Levi were mysteriously lost off the coast of Easter Island or something, but all the people she loved best in the world would be devastated so, instead, she prayed for his (incredibly annoying) return home.

Hannah snorted in disbelief, throwing her arm around Noelle. “Thank you. For staying with me, through Levi leaving and Cass dying, and everything in between.”

“You and me, Hannah. Ride or die. Besides, you made me fight for Miri. That’s how we roll.”

“What would I have done if you’d never shown up on my doorstep?” Hannah asked.

“Oh, I assume Cass would have gone out and found me,” Noelle said, and Hannah laughed. Noelle couldn’t bear to imagine a version of her life in which she hadn’t ended up right here.

“Are you whispering about me?” Miriam asked, tucking herself up against Noelle’s other side. Having her two best girls on her flanks felt pretty great.

“I wish,” Hannah said. “We’re talking about Blue.”

“Gross. Stop. He’s not even here, why do we keep talking about him? Talk about my artistic genius.”

They both looked at Miri, and she grinned an impish little elf grin. It was a look Noelle had never seen, and she wondered, again, how much of Miriam was going to surface now that she was letting herself be.

She couldn’t wait.

Chapter 26

Miriam