“Mama, can me and Sabrina join the arts and crafts class today?” Livy asks. “We finished all our schoolwork.”
“I don’t know, honey.” I place a plate in front of each girl. “That’s their actual class for school.”
“The instructor won’t mind,” Stefano says as he sets glasses of juice in front of them. “You just have to be on your best behavior, or she won’t let you join again.”
“Ever?” Livy asks, eyes wide.
“Ever,” Stefano confirms solemnly.
Sabrina sits up straighter in her chair. “We’ll be so good.”
“The goodest,” Livy adds.
I point at her. “Best.”
“That too.”
Sabrina folds her hands together and looks up at me with big, pleading eyes. “Please, Mrs. Livy’s Mama. Please.”
A laugh slips out of me before I can stop it.
“You two are ridiculous.”
“Ridiculously good?” Livy asks.
“Ridiculously dramatic.”
Stefano leans against the counter, smiling.
“All right,” I say, shaking my head. “Finish your lunch, then you can go ask the instructor. If it’s all right with her, then I don’t mind.”
Both girls cheer like I just granted them a kingdom.
“Eat first,” I remind them.
They immediately grab their sandwiches.
Sabrina and Livy have been inseparable since we moved into the estate. At first, I thought it was because Sabrina was familiar from school, and Livy needed something normal after losing so much.
But it’s more than that now.
They follow each other everywhere. They whisper secrets, share snacks, argue over crayons, and somehow manage to turn every hallway in this mansion into a mission only they understand.
Sabrina’s papa is one of Maverick’s guards, so he’s often working. Her mother was killed in an attack a few years back. No one has told me the full story, and I haven’t pushed.
Some grief deserves to be spoken only when the person carrying it is ready.
But I see the missing pieces in Sabrina.
The way she watches me when I braid Livy’s hair.
The way she leans closer when I ask if she’s eaten.
The way her face softens every time I call her sweetheart.
Somewhere along the way, without anyone asking permission, Sabrina tucked herself into the empty spaces of our little family.
And I let her.
