A Reborn Bride Pearl Emerging from Dust by Sally Garcia

At the time, he was away filming on location, so he didn't make it back in time.

But the family portrait was missing someone else, too—

Calliope.

Staring at the photo, he suddenly understood how Calliope must have felt, like she'd been left out, abandoned.

Ulysses felt a mess of emotions.

He sat down on the couch, looking kind of lost, like a puppy left out in the rain.

"Hey, Ulysses, what's up with you? You finally managed to come home, but you look like you've got the weight of the world on your shoulders."

Valerian Jewell gave Ulysses a suspicious look.

He'd never seen Ulysses like this before.

He knew Ulysses had been doing great with his acting gigs lately. So he should have been in high spirits.

But right now, he just looked... empty.

"Valerian!" Ulysses finally realized Valerian had somehow ended up sitting right next to him.

"Did something happen?" Valerian asked.

"Yeah, Ulysses, what's wrong? Did something go wrong with work?" Horatio piped up from his wheelchair across from them, looking just as confused.

about work." Ulysses frowned. "I ran into someone at the airport

others all looked

"Calliope," Ulysses said quietly.

was at the airport?" Valerian sounded surprised. "What was she doing there? Going on a

someone up. At first, I thought she was there to pick me up. I

couldn't hide the

brothers, but hadn't even asked when he'd

to pick someone up, who was it? It couldn't have been you, clearly, you didn't come

Valerian was thinking aloud.

picking

his head. "You guys would never

and Horatio looked at each other, even more

see?" Horatio urged him on, sensing there

brothers. But I wasn't one of

disappointment heavy

airport to pick someone up and he drun right into her

He felt let down.

when he saw the people she'd

come

hew the disappointment

into something sharper.

close they all

Horatio exchanged