Penelope hadn't meant to follow them inside.
She'd finished loading the last of the supplies faster than expected, the marina finally quiet apart from the rain, and something restless had pushed her out of the truck and toward the church before she'd fully decided to go — the same restlessness that had been driving most of her decisions the last several days, the need to move rather than sit still with her own thoughts.
She reached the doors just as Erik and Killian were preparing to leave, the woman settled on her pew, the boy curled against her side, the retired doctor already working on her leg by candlelight.
"Penny." Erik's brow lifted slightly. "We were about to head back."
"I know. Give me a minute." She stepped past him into the church proper, taking in the scattered families huddled across the pews — maybe thirty people total, more than she'd realized from outside, candles flickering in the drafts that kept slipping through cracked stained glass.
