"We do all we can in the moment," Marcus says. "That's what matters."

Silence falls again, the water lapping at the shore and he takes a bite of his cake. It really is wonderful cake. Then he smiles, almost to himself, and says, "We stand in the doorway and we push back the darkness."

When he'd said it the first time, he hadn't been aware just how true that was and how far it could extend.