Read Chapter 35: — HOME

Graham retired from permanent international postings six months later.

He did not retire from engineering.

Nobody believed that was possible.

He became a consultant, taught occasional safety seminars and continued sending Daniel unsolicited comments on photographs of construction details.

Maggie and Graham remarried in a small civil ceremony in Yorkshire.

Maya stood beside Maggie.

Daniel stood beside Graham.

Owen gave a speech that was mostly stories about Graham being impossible.

Toby gave a speech nobody had authorised.

Samir sent a video message from Almar.

Emily Shaw—the woman Daniel had once accidentally addressed as his neighbour’s aunt—also attended because Maggie had somehow become friends with her. She and Daniel laughed about their disastrous beginning and nothing more came of it.

Maggie was disappointed for approximately forty-eight hours.

Daniel returned to work after the wedding.

Of course he did.

But he changed a few things.

He ate meals.

Usually.

He answered his mother’s calls.

Mostly.

He took leave before exhaustion made the decision for him.

And when young engineers told him a deadline was too important to rest, he said, “Deadlines matter. So do people. If your plan requires people to behave like machines, your plan is wrong.”

He had learned that lesson from Graham.

And from surviving Graham.