The three of them got into Emma’s car and headed across Wyoming’s high, rolling plains. They went to one of Emma’s favorite spots, twenty miles north of town alongside the Grizzly Tooth River. Emma had packed a lunch, and while Tyler threw pebbles into the river, she turned to Gannon.
“The other day I was given a gift, Jack.”
Gannon could not begin to guess what it was.
“After we found Tyler, he was examined thoroughly by so many doctors, goodness. He’s perfectly fine, but when they double-checked his DNA they found that he’s Joe’s biological son.”
“Really?” Gannon grinned.
“Yes. Somehow, in all of this, a miracle happened.” Emma looked at the sky. “It means Joe is still with us, you know?”
“Sure.”
“What about you, Jack?”
“What about me?”
“Ever think of settling down?”
Gannon shrugged. “I almost got married once, to a reporter at the Cleveland Plain Dealer.”
“What happened?”
“Didn’t work out. I guess I’ve always been a loner.”
“Well, you’d better watch yourself.” She smiled. “You never know what’s coming for you.”
“You never know.”
He smiled back, watched Tyler toddling after a butterfly, then reflected on Sutsoff and her lonely funeral. That got him thinking about how he really had no one in his life except his sister, Cora.
But he’d lost her long ago.
He looked toward the mountains.
If she wasn’t dead, she was out there.
Somewhere.
As he considered the snow-crowned peaks he thought that maybe it was time to find her.
