Chapter 9 - The Lullaby by the Ocean
Six months later.
The early summer sun broke over the expansive green lawns of the new Vance Sovereign Sanctuary in Oyster Bay, Long Island, washing the white limestone terraces, the private docks, and the sparkling blue waters of the sound in dazzling ribbons of gold, rose, and sapphire.
The nightmare of the streets was gone forever.
Victoria Sterling was serving a twenty-five-year sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, her appeals denied unanimously by the appellate bench. The corrupt hospital administrators had been stripped of their medical licenses and imprisoned.
Down on the private white sand beach, four-year-old Lily and Emma were running barefoot through the gentle surf, laughing with pure, bell-like joy as a golden retriever puppy chased them across the packed sand.
Lily was wearing a bright yellow sundress, her curls bouncing in the ocean breeze, holding the puppy’s leash with proud, radiant authority.
Standing on the wide cedar veranda overlooking the water were Ethan and Clara.
Clara leaned against Ethan’s broad chest, his strong arms wrapped securely around her waist, holding two warm mugs of morning coffee.
The two halves of the silver locket hung together around her neck, gleaming brightly in the summer sun.
Ethan buried his face into her hair, inhaling the sweet scent of vanilla and morning salt air:
“Are you happy, Clara?” he murmured softly against her ear.
Clara looked down at the beach, where Lily and Emma had just stopped to build a sandcastle together, their laughter echoing across the water like sweet music:
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“I am whole, Ethan,” Clara smiled, turning her face up to meet his lips in a slow, sacred, sovereign kiss.
“Our melody is complete.”
