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“Yes, she’s one of the owners with her sister. And yes, I met Paul. I knew him.”

“Did you tell him?” Abby asked. “About what your moms thought?”

“Not on the first visit, no. I came back, though. He and I had coffee in his kitchen, and I told him about what they believed then. He said something about seeing two women once, who, in a strange way, reminded him of his mothers.”Simon shrugged. “I don’t know if he was pulling my leg or just trying to be nice to me because my moms believed they were his mothers, reborn, but we kept in touch, and when he passed away, I went to his funeral. My wife and I were already thinking about moving, and she came with me. She liked the town, so we moved here, and when the sisters were ready to sell this place, I asked to help them do that.”

“Paul believed you?” Abby asked.

“I don’t know. Like I said, I’d just lost my mother, and he knew what that was like. Maybe he was just being nice to me and letting me have this thing about them maybe living on in someone else one day.”

Quinn took Abby’s hand. A second later, she felt Abby squeeze it, and decided to risk it.

“Your birth mother was Lily. Her wife was Sandy. When you were about six or so, we took you to New York to spend time with them. Lily took you to the Central Park Zoo and gave you way too much sugar.” Quinn stopped there, gauging his reaction.

She could see it all now, too. The trip; Simon running into the room after the zoo that day; Lily’s face when she said goodbye to him.

“Your favorite toy was a red fire truck that we got you for Christmas when you were four. You played with that thing until the wheels came off,” Abby added.

Quinn laughed and added, “I had to keep fixing them because you wouldn’t let us buy you a new one. It had to be that one.”

“Your first girlfriend was a girl named Donna Jo. You introduced us to her one night when you brought her to dinner. You were blushing the entire time,” Abby said.

“You were adorable,” Quinn added, seeing all ofthatas well now.

“How do you… How do you know all of that?”

“Because the book they wrote together isn’t fiction. It’s real, Simon. Pauldidsee them that day. The reason they liked coming back to this town was that he was their son fromanother life. They wanted to try to know him as much as they could because of that. We have this draw to the people from our past lives,” Abby replied. “Quinn and I only figured out who we were when you dropped off that box that you found here. I went into her shop, thinking I was just taking a break from my writing, and when I saw her, I knew something I’d never known before.” She leaned into Quinn’s side. “We are your mothers reincarnated.”

“That’s not possible.”

“It is. And we can talk about any of this, if you want, or we can leave you alone. Whatever you need,” Quinn said. “I guess I just thought you should know that your mothers weren’t crazy. They loved each other very, very much, and they probably would have either way. I know I’d still love Abby if we weren’t connected like this. But there’s something else to this that we tried to fight and couldn’t. There’s about six centuries of love between us. Right now, I can see Diana sitting on the floor with you, repairing the wheels on that truck. You’re watching her, and she’s teaching you how she does it and telling you how she used to fix real cars with her dad, your grandfather, before he died.”

“We don’t see everything all at once,” Abby shared. “Just bits and pieces, usually. But when we’re confronted with the past, like we are right now, things come back to us. Events. Feelings. Whole conversations.”

“You’re…” He took a step back. “You’re them?”

“Not exactly. I’m still Quinn, and she’s still Abby. We’re both whole people on our own. But we’re also the remnants of what they left behind. Their legacy.”

“You,” Abby said softly. “And Paul. His children and grandchildren. Yours, too.” She nodded to the house. “This house, where Deb and Harriet got to live the best life they could for the time they lived in; together, happy, in love, loving their son. We’re the remnants of all the women who couldn’t tell people about that love in the same way that we can. We’re the first couple who could actually be a couple, hold hands like this, get married and have it be legal, adopta child, or have one ourselves, if we want. None of them got to do that how we cannow, and we feel them all differently. So, we’re not them, like Quinn said, but we’re also part of their legacy.”

“Do you want us to go?” Quinn asked, giving him an out. “We can. You don’t have to hear from us again, if that’s what you want. I know this is a shock. Trust us, we get that.” She chuckled a little. “The book belongs to you, but it’s our story, and you’re part of that. We’d love to, I don’t know, tell you more about what we’ve discovered, if you want to know.”

“Today or anytime,” Abby added.

“You have their memories?” he asked with tears welling in his eyes.

“Some of them and their feelings.” Abby held out the book for him to take. “They loved you very, very much. From the moment you were born, they loved you. Lily loved you, too. She just couldn’t be your mom how they could. You were so loved, Simon.”

He wiped a tear that had rolled down his cheek.

“Do you maybe… want to get coffee? I think I could use some time with this, so not today, but maybe one day, I could call the shop or stop by, and we could all go get some coffee?”

“Of course. Anytime,” Abby said.

“Yeah. Whenever you want,” Quinn replied.

“Not that new place, though… The other new place is fine, but that one has the bitterest coffee I’ve ever tasted. They’ve got to be going out of business soon.”

Quinn and Abby both laughed before Abby took a step toward him and held out the book again.