Lucia didn’t know what had happened between Damon and Alex on the trip from her house to the hospital.

All she knew was that, when she got out of her car and went to meet them, something had changed.

Damon wasn’t completely different. He wasn’t embracing the whole notion of being involved with his father and his family, but something had happened.

It was obvious in the way he stood next to Alex, almost protectively. She heard it in the firm voice with which he spoke to the hospital staff, and in the gentle reassurance with which he took the boy down the hall to see his mother.

This was...