Chapter 10
On Noah’s eighth birthday, Lily woke me before dawn.
“The cake,” she whispered. “We have to finish the dinosaur.”
I pulled the blanket over my head.
“Five more minutes.”
“Daddy. He’ll be eight in five more minutes too.”
She was right about that, at least.
Elena was already in the kitchen. She handed me green icing and pointed to the cake. My job was to make a dinosaur tail. Lily supervised with great concern.
“It looks like a snake,” she said.
“It’s still getting ready.”
“It needs bumps.”
By the time Noah came downstairs, the tail had bumps. The dinosaur leaned to one side, but he grinned when he saw it.
“You made that?”
“All three of us,” Elena said.
He hugged her first, then Lily, then me. Lily informed him that she had rescued the tail.
We ate breakfast together before school. Noah had a party planned for Saturday, with a few friends from his class. He wanted to show them the garden and the bird feeder he had built with me.
He had also asked for a small ladder to help pick apples from the tree by the fence.
I had wondered whether the word would trouble him. When I asked, he looked at me as if I had misunderstood.
“This one stays outside,” he said. “And I can climb down whenever I want.”
We picked one together after school. It was sour. He ate half anyway.
The counselor had helped both children over the past year. Lily no longer watched Noah sleep. Noah still liked his bedroom door open, but he rarely woke from bad dreams. When he did, he knew he could call for us and we would answer.
Elena and I had changed too. We told each other when we were afraid. We made decisions about the children, money, and the house at the same table.
The estate accounts had finally been corrected. Money taken from the trust was being returned under court orders. Priya had helped us set up separate, carefully reviewed savings for Noah and Lily.
I had started working fewer hours. I wanted to walk the children to school, and I could. Some afternoons, Elena went to the studio where she had begun painting again. I loved seeing what she brought home.
After Noah’s party, the house was a mess of wrapping paper and crumbs. His friends had gone. Lily was asleep upstairs, worn out from helping host.
Noah stayed with me in the garden while I gathered paper cups.
“Dad?”
“Yeah?”
“Do you remember when I was under the floor?”
I set the cups down.
“Yes.”
“I remember being cold. But I remember you calling my name more.”
I sat beside him on the back step.
“I was frightened I wouldn’t find you.”
“I know.” He leaned against me. “Lily heard me.”
“She did.”
“And you came.”
“I did.”
He watched a bird land on the feeder.
“I like it here,” he said.
“So do I.”
“Can we stay?”
I understood why he still needed to ask.
“We can stay. This is our home.”
He nodded as if he were filing the answer somewhere he could reach it later. Then he asked whether I thought there was any cake left.
We went inside to find Elena cutting four uneven slices. Lily appeared at the top of the stairs, suddenly awake at the sound of plates.
“I helped make it,” she reminded us.
“You’ll get a slice,” Elena said.
We carried the cake to the kitchen table. Noah insisted Lily take the piece with the dinosaur tail because she had fixed it.
For a while, we talked about ordinary things. Noah’s friends. Lily’s school play. The apple that tasted awful. Elena laughed when Noah suggested we bake the rest with enough sugar to make them edible.
Then Lily leaned across the table.
“I’m glad I told you about Noah,” she said.
I put down my fork.
“So am I.”
“I was scared you wouldn’t believe me.”
“I know. I’m sorry it took me a moment to understand.”
She looked at her brother. “I’d tell you again.”
Noah reached over and squeezed her hand.
“You won’t have to,” he said.
Elena drew them both close. I moved my chair beside hers, and Lily climbed into my lap while Noah stayed tucked against his mother.
I looked around our kitchen. Paper stars still hung by the window. Two backpacks waited near the door. Elena’s painting of our garden leaned on a shelf because we had not agreed where to hang it.
Noah was warm. Lily was smiling. Elena rested her head against my shoulder.
May you like
I put my arm around them and felt Lily’s hand settle over mine.
We stayed there until the cake was gone and Noah asked if we could go outside to see whether the birds had returned.
