"Mm-hmm," Molly nodded earnestly.


    Paige gave her a silent thumbs-up. "Way to go, kiddo!"


    A shy smile crept across Molly''s face.


    Paige was amazed. It was hard to reconcile the girl before her with the child who, on their first meeting, was all alone in the grand mansion, finishing off Simon.


    She settled back into her seat. For some reason, her thoughts wandered to the changes she herself had undergone in the past couple of years.


    She nced at Baillie, the phrase ''love heals all wounds'' came to her mind.d2


    It was certainly true for her and for Molly.


    Though Felix could be a bit of a klutz, he always showed his love in his own way to Molly.


    Rosalynn, too, had done everything within her power to provide Molly with all she needed.


    And then there was Ivy, generous to a fault, she always handed over anything she deemed good right into Molly''s hands.


    "You look happy." Baillie whispered, holding Paige''s hand.


    "I am!" Paige nodded, her gaze drifting outside. "It''s a beautiful day, isn''t it?"


    There was some kind of ceremony at Cory''s school today.


    Towards the end, there was an awards presentation. Cory, because of his all-around excellence, had won seven trophies for variouspetitions over the year, plus a team gold medal, earning him another prestigious award.


    It was a big deal-only one such trophy was handed out by the school each year.


    They didn''t want to miss the awards, so after a family discussion the night before, the task of picking up Ivy and Molly had been left to Paige and Baillie. Jaime had rushed back in the morning, intending to head to Cory''s event, but got sidetracked ying with Trista and ended up in the wrong group. They hurried to Cory''s school just in time for the ceremony.


    Cory, in a tailor-made suit, stood at the front of the line, his face screaming ''when will this end?''


    Over the year, our Cory had grown at his own pace, still a bit shorter than his sister.N?velDrama.Org owns this text.


    Hria was beside herself with worry.


    Last month, they''d taken Cory for a check-up, fearing his past bout with leukemia might have affected his growth. But the results came back normal.


    His stature might not have been towering, but his presence outshone even the beaming principal.


    The principal, at the microphone, passionately recounted the school''s triumphs in variouspetitions throughout the year.


    When he mentioned that seven of the individual gold medals had been won by Cory, a second-grader, the audience gasped in surprise, then burst into warm apuse. Rosalynn, watching from the second floor, joined in the pping, noticing Hannah and Sarah''s parents were more excited than when their kids who''d won awards. Paige and the others arrived just at that moment.


    After the announcement, Cory was called to the microphone to say a few words.


    Paige had seen the speech he''d brought home the day before. He hadn''t even nced at it twice. Dumping it on the entryway table, he''d gone off to his room to do his own thing.


    "Your son''s probably going to wing it," Paige whispered to Rosalynn with a grin that split her face ear to ear. She was clearly enjoying the spectacle.


    Sure enough, Cory stepped up and, under the principal''s hopeful gaze, said simply, "Thanks for the trophy. I''ll keep doing my best."


    With that, he ambled down and stood to the side, neat as a pin.


    The apuse was enthusiastic, and the principal was left with a look of shock.