How a Dying Woman Rewrote Her Epilogue

When Elodie accepted his friend request, Joseph was genuinely surprised. He couldn't even explain to himself why he'd added her in the first place, or what he was supposed to say now that she'd accepted.

It all felt a bit awkward.

In the end, he didn't say anything.

Instead, he tapped into Elodie's social feed and started scrolling.

She didn't post often, and it looked like her privacy settings were wide open. The latest update was from about two weeks ago—a photo of a hospital building.

The caption read: "Here alone, fingers crossed for good news..."

Joseph couldn't help picturing Elodie's calm, detached expression.

Clearly, she'd gone to the doctor by herself.

As he scrolled further, most of her posts were snapshots of daily life-little things that showed how much she loved living. Pictures of desserts she'd made, home- cooked meals, fresh bouquets she'd bought, and her place looking neat and inviting.

It was all so warm and full of intention.

Joseph lingered for a while, thinking that, really, Jarrod ought to be pretty happy.

His thumb paused on a mirror selfie Elodie had posted. He hesitated, then decided not to open it in full.

"Joseph? What are you looking at?" Maurice's voice broke his reverie. They'd all been out to dinner for a while now, but Joseph had barely said a word and kept staring at his phone.

Jarrod glanced over, his tone unreadable. "Something on your mind?"

He, too, had noticed Joseph seemed distracted all night.

Joseph met Jarrod's eyes, feeling a sudden, inexplicable irritation. "No."

Sylvie walked over and glanced at Joseph's phone. "You seem out of it. Are you feeling all right?"

He quickly locked the screen. "I'm fine."

"Glad

glimpsed a woman's photo on

A woman?

Joseph a

at Silverstein Mansion. He'd left

the next morning, as he was getting ready

heading out

into his car, still in her

eyebrow raised.

obviously. Aren't you picking up

thought I'd say hi

called Sylvie

be downstairs soon, she

at her.

hair, thinking. Elodie cared so much about her brother, always wishing and pleading to be acknowledged as his sister-in-law, but Octavia stubbornly refused and kept calling Sylvie by that title instead. She figured Elodie must

honestly, Elodie didn't compare to

the aviation field, and Octavia wanted to go into that

to admit, Elodie was good at running a home-her cooking and

totally useless, she

off little treats

missed them, but she wasn't about to

really. Just noticed it's been pretty peaceful lately,"

developed the U.N2 drone. Someday, she'd

tablet and started checking the stock market, making it clear

Sylvie,

her mornings weren't too early. When she walked into the classroom, she saw Freya

a few days after an asthma attack and a short hospital stay. Octavia didn't bother to say hello. They were the same age and had been compared to each other all

either. She simply took a box of cookies out of her

diagonally behind her, Octavia immediately recognized the packaging. "Where'd you get

her a look and took a bite. "Not your