I've been working with some of the children and Justin still stands out to me. He seems so vulnerable. At first he wouldn't talk and was prone to wandering off but he's been getting better.

It's just past noon when someone knocks on my door.

Chloe walks through my office doors and I put the phone down giving her my full attention. "Chloe! What are you doing here?"

"I brought you lunch." She tells me smiling. "I know you're busy and knowing you, you wouldn't stop to eat unless someone forced you to. So I guess that's what I'm doing."

"Thanks. Let's go out on one of the benches outside." I suggest and she follows my lead.

I am surprised to find Justin sitting outside under a tree by himself. "I'll be right back." I tell Chloe while she is busy setting up our lunch. Hustling over to Justin I sit down beside him and lean my back against the tree. "Hey Justin, what do you got there?"

"A book." He tells me shyly. I can't help but smile because it's taken a long time to get him to say two words to anyone but his mother and even then he didn't say much to her.

"Oh yeah. How long have you been reading brail?" I ask because frankly it took me a long time to learn it myself and here was this child who was barely six and functioning well above average.

"A while. Daddy taught me." He says softly.

"You must miss him a lot."

"Mommy says he's with the angels."

"Well your mommy is right and you wanna know something?"

"What?"

"My mommy is with the angels too."

This seems to catch his interest. "Really?"

"When I was a baby, my mom got very sick. She had cancer and couldn't take the medicine to keep her alive because she wanted to save me."

"Daddy saved me too." He says very quietly. "He's never coming back is he?"

"No Justin, he's not."

He takes a deep breath and closes his book digesting this information.

I look over at Chloe and as much as I want to be alone with her I decide Justin needs some friends right about now. "Hey buddy, what'dya say you have lunch with me and a very good friend of mine."

He's quiet for a while and then finally nods his head. We stand and his little hand reaches out for mine and I smile as I wave to Chloe.

Chloe has quite the spread on the table and when she sees us approaching, she kneels down and talks softly to Justin. "Hey sweetie, aren't you so cute!?"

Justin tugs on my hand and sort of leans against my leg, his face is red and I think how very much he reminds me of myself. I mouth to Chloe that he's a little shy and she smiles in return. "That's a nice book you have there." She tries gently. "I wish we had someone to help us eat all this food. Hey, do you know any little boys who like chocolate cupcakes?"

"I like chocolate cupcakes." He volunteers.

"Oh you do?"

He nods and I help him onto the bench, sitting beside him while Chloe sits across from us. "Justin, this is Chloe Lane, my very best friend." Justin seems to process the information and then smiles. "Can I have a cupcake?" He asks and Chloe hands him one with lots of frosting. "Thank you."

"Can I have one?" I ask and pout out my bottom lip.

"Not until you've had your lunch." She laughs and hands me a sandwich. I take a large bite and don't realize how hungry I was.

After I've finished my third sandwich I barely have room for my cupcake but I manage to eat it nonetheless.

"Good thing I remembered how much you enjoy food." Chloe laughs. Coming to sit beside the small boy who surprisingly had opened up quite a bit in the last half an hour, it seems that Chloe has made quite the impression on him. I watch as Chloe takes a napkin from her bag and gently begins to wipe the extra frosting from his face. "There!" She says when she's done and he is squeaky clean.

"Oh Justin. I told you to stop running off like that! I'm sorry." Molly apologizes and takes his hand.

"It's alright, we really enjoyed his company." Chloe says and smiles warmly. "He's quite the little gentleman."

Molly is taken aback and looks down at her small son. "He takes after his father." She says and both Chloe and I can see the tears spring to her eyes.

"I really like it here." Justin tells us all and we all share a laugh.

"I really think this place is performing miracles." She smiles and ushers Justin inside.

"That was nice of you." I tell Chloe.

"It was the truth. He is a little gentleman, a little messy, but still a charmer. Not unlike someone else I know." She laughs taking another napkin and wiping my own face. I reach for the napkin and take her hand in mine.

"Why are you really marrying Philip?" I ask and it catches her off guard.

"Because..because I love him."

"Are you sure?"

"Brady, stop it!"

"Stop what?" I question and I know very well I am hitting close to home and maybe Chloe doesn't want to face reality, but I need an answer.

"I can't talk about this. I'm going to marry Philip and I don't care what Nancy or Craig or even what you have to say about it Brady Black!" She's angry now and her brows are furrowed and I know that I shouldn't push her but I can't help myself.

"You don't want to listen to the people who are the closest to you because you know we're right. You won't be happy with Philip, you're not happy now!"

"How dare you! What would you know about me or my life? You left Brady. You left me here with Philip to pick up the pieces. I shared everything with you, we did everything together, and you just left. Do you know how much that hurt?"

"Probably as much as it hurt to leave you." I say softly and I'm hating myself because I can see the tears collecting in her eyes. "I didn't mean to hurt you, but it was important to me. Look at me Chloe, I can see, isn't that worth something?"

"That never mattered to me and you know it."

"I know it didn't, but it mattered to me. How was I going to go through life without seeing your beautiful face?" I ask softly and she looks up.

"I'm not beautiful." She says and the sad thing is, she believes it's the truth.

I cup her chin and caress her cheek with my thumb. "You are."

Her face flushes and she turns from me, straightening out her clothes. Standing, she packs. "I'll call you."

I stand and turn her around, wrapping my arms around her. I hug her tightly and she responds by wrapping her arms around me and burying her head in my chest. "I'm here for you." I tell her with a gentleness to my voice that I hope she recognizes. I let her go and walk back to my office, turning to see her sit back down on the bench lost in thought. I wonder to myself how long it's been since someone other than her parents has shown her affection? Certainly Philip would know how much she needed to be hugged and reassured. Wouldn't he?