Nora nodded. “They make me feel happy.”
Adriana kissed her forehead. “Then keep them close.”
She turned off the lamp, standing in the quiet room. For the first time in a long while, she felt peace—not the brittle calm of endurance, but the kind that grows from letting go.
She whispered into the darkness, “Goodbye, butterflies.”
And when she finally closed her eyes, she slept without waiting for a door to open.