I laughed despite myself. “Yes, sweetheart. Cake.”
And that was how the truth came out: in a room full of balloons, with my heart cracked open all over again. Not neatly. Not kindly. But honestly, at last.
Later, as Norton lit five candles and Evelyn leaned forward, cheeks puffed in concentration, I watched her face glow in the warm little circle of light.
Whatever secret had existed before that day, whatever pain still waited for us after it, one thing was absolutely clear.
She had not been left behind.
She had been found.
