Rebecca felt the tremor of arrival before dawn broke through the curtains. She inhaled the scent of early roses, it reminded her of the multiple bouquets once brought to her bedside at the hospital. She lay in bed for a long minute, the silence swallowing her whole, before she slided out of the crisp sheets and moving through the house she had once known.

The morning light streamed across the polished marble. Every step felt wide and echoing, and that only deepened the hollow feeling in her ...