Even the usually stoic security staff couldn’t maintain their professional distance, offering subtle nods of approval as the trio passed.

“Look at their faces,” Daniel murmured, his smile impossibly wide as he took in the scene. Juniper glanced up at him, her heart swelling at the pure joy radiating from his features. Sophia bounced between handshakes and high-fives, her earlier unease temporarily forgotten in the electricity of the moment.

But nothing could have prepared them for what waited beyond the courthouse doors.

They stopped dead in their tracks at the top of the snow-dusted steps, momentarily stunned by the sight before them.