Rowan froze mid-step.<\/p>\n
The white lilies slipped slightly in his grip as his eyes locked onto the bracelet around the boy\u2019s wrist.<\/p>\n
It was unmistakable.<\/p>\n
Small. Silver. Tarnished at the edges.<\/p>\n
The same bracelet he had placed inside his daughter\u2019s coffin three years ago.<\/p>\n
His voice dropped, rough and unsteady.
\u201cWhere did you get that?\u201d<\/p>\n
The boy trembled, pressed against the pine tree, shaking his head like he didn\u2019t understand the question\u2014or was too afraid to answer it.<\/p>\n
Behind Rowan, the wind moved through the cemetery louder now, cutting between the headstones like something waking up.<\/p>\n
Rowan stepped closer, slower this time.<\/p>\n
Fury faded into confusion.<\/p>\n
\u201cTalk to me,\u201d he said, quieter. \u201cThat bracelet was buried.\u201d<\/p>\n
The boy\u2019s lips quivered.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2026 I didn\u2019t take it,\u201d he whispered. \u201cI found it here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rowan\u2019s grip tightened.<\/p>\n
His gaze snapped to the disturbed soil near the grave.<\/p>\n
Fresh dirt.<\/p>\n
Recently moved.<\/p>\n
Not old enough to belong to memory.<\/p>\n
The boy swallowed hard and pointed weakly at the headstone.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe told me to come,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Rowan went still.<\/p>\n
The lilies slipped from his hand completely this time, falling into the wet grass.<\/p>\n
His daughter\u2019s name carved into stone stared back at him under the gray sky.<\/p>\n
And for the first time in three years\u2014<\/p>\n
Rowan wasn\u2019t sure if he had been visiting a grave\u2026<\/p>\n
or being called back to one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rowan froze mid-step. The white lilies slipped slightly in his grip as his eyes locked onto the bracelet around the boy\u2019s wrist. It was unmistakable. Small. Silver. Tarnished at the edges. The same bracelet he had placed inside his daughter\u2019s coffin three years ago. His voice dropped, rough and unsteady.\u201cWhere did you get that?\u201d The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":3754,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3752"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3752\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}