the word struck Matteo with such force that he stopped walking altogether, his mind struggling to grasp what his eyes were showing him, because his daughters had been diagnosed as blind from infancy, their world shaped by sound and touch alone, and yet they stood now pressed against a stranger, faces lifted, eyes focused, breathing in her presence with calm recognition.

The woman wrapped her arms around them with a tenderness that made something deep inside Matteo twist painfully, and when he finally reached them, his voice came out sharper than he intended as fear and disbelief fought for control.