By Christmas, they stood together beneath the same garlands Julien had once walked under alone.
This time, he wasn’t carrying a velvet box for someone who didn’t love him.
He was holding Claire’s hand.
They were married at Mr. Ferrand’s house, under twinkling fairy lights and a starlit sky. The old man gave a toast, beaming with pride.
— “Life doesn’t always give us what we want. But sometimes, it gives us what we didn’t know we needed.”
Léo toddled around the tree, laughing, tugging on ornaments.
Julien, once a man with no family, now had a wife, a son, and a home filled with laughter.
He glanced at the photo of Marc that now hung in the hallway.
— “Thank you, brother,” he whispered. “I’ll take it from here.”
Sometimes, the coldest, loneliest roads lead to the warmest destinations.
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