“We wanted to prepare her.”
“I am being easy,” I said. “I’m standing here instead of tearing this place apart.”
The counselor nodded once. “Then we go slowly. But we go now.”
She led us down a blue hallway. Every step felt too loud.
“She’s in the art room,” the counselor said.
I looked through the small window.
Sophie sat at a table with a sketchbook. Her hair was longer, and her face was thinner.
“She’s in the art room.”
But it was Sophie.
My Sophie.
The counselor opened the door. “Sophie? Someone’s here to see you.”
Sophie looked up, and the pencil fell from her hand.
“Mom?”
I tried to move, but my knees locked. “Sophie.”
She stood so fast her chair tipped backward, then stopped halfway to me.
“Sophie? Someone’s here to see you.”
That pause broke something in me.
Her eyes filled with fear. “Are you mad at me?”
I crossed the room, then stopped. Mark had made too many choices for her already.
“No, baby. Never.”
Her chin trembled. “Daddy said you needed time.”
“I never needed time,” I said. “I needed you.”
“He said seeing me like this would hurt you.”
“Daddy said you needed time.”
I dropped to my knees. “I was already hurt, sweetheart, because I couldn’t find you.”
She covered her mouth. “I ruined your surprise. I fell, Daddy cried, and I thought you’d hate the cabin.”
Denise handed me the wooden sign.
I held it out.
Sophie stared at the uneven letters.
“Mom’s Lake House.”
“You didn’t ruin anything,” I said. “You’re the best part of every surprise I ever got.”
“I ruined your surprise.”
Then she ran to me.
I caught her and held on.
“I looked for you every day,” I whispered.
“I asked for you,” she cried.
“Daddy said not yet.”
“Why?”
