WARNING

Marigold told her story of losing her parents in a plane crash where all aboard had died. Parts were hard for her to want to talk about, but she did, nonetheless.

It never ceased to surprise Elena that the bravery of children was so much greater than they were given credit for.

Still, MariGold got through it and talked about her being left unable to walk while she still recovered and what she had done so far. Her now-guardian chimed in occasionally to provide more details when necessary.

It was obvious to Elena that not only had Marigold sustained physical trauma but emotional as well, which she had already suspected.

But the more she watched Mr. Atlas ebb in here and there, the more she noticed he had emotional baggage tied into this as well.

She turned her attention to him after a moment. “Mr. Atlas…”

“Please, call me Atlas.”

She nodded, taking it as a good thing that he was moving to be more casual.

“What made you decide to take in Marigold?”

He cleared his throat, pushing back any