Like that other journey so many years ago it took crossing a second state line, into Tennessee this time, before they started to feel truly safe. To celebrate, they don't stay that night in a highway motel – instead they head early into the nearest city. And while Emma babysits the boys, their mother and the man they already call their father dine out at a restaurant.
It is at the restaurant that he opens his palm to reveal the gold band, once so familiar to them both. "A new start needs a new ring," he says, his voice shaking. "And I thought – well it's an heirloom of sorts. It seemed appropriate."
She very slowly reaches out to take it, her fingertips tracing the fine engraved pattern that her father had requested for the woman he loved beyond reason. It is for this reason that she accepts it, that she does not refuse an item once worn by her mother: her father chose it.
She removes her second husband's ring and slips it onto her other hand. She too is shaking as he slides the older ring onto her finger, her eyes full as she leans down to press her lips to his knuckles.
"A fresh anniversary," she says.
He draws a breath and nods. For the rest of their lives, they never mention again what else had happened on that date, so many years before. But he still catches her staring at the full moon some nights.
Note: Okay, so I wrote this then realised that of course Paul died in Spring so no way would they have stuck around and not moved until September. But I still liked the idea...