“Why?”
“Because you chose it.”
“That’s not usually a good enough reason for you.”
“It is now.”
I study him. He doesn’t shift. Doesn’t adjust. Doesn’t deflect.
That still feels unfamiliar.
The exits remain. All eight of them. Unchanged. Available. Unused.
But I stay.
Chapter 38
The Life After
POV:Alessandro
There are four doors in the nursery. Two windows. Evie counts them every time she enters. She does it without looking like she is doing it. That is one of the first things I noticed about her and one of the last things I expect will ever change. Her eyes move once. Door to hall. Door to adjoining sitting room. Door to service corridor. Door to bathroom. Window east. Window south.
Six points of exit. She counts them. Never uses them.
Then she crosses the room and goes to our daughters.
Lucia wakes first. Always. She opens her eyes with suspicion, as if the world has already failed to provide adequate explanation for itself. Dark eyes. Mine, they say. I don’t know if that is true. Newborns change. Faces become themselves slowly.
But I’ll admit the look is familiar.
Sofia remains asleep for another twelve seconds, then moves because her sister has moved. She does not cry immediately; she observes first. Small face turned toward the disturbance, mouthsoft, brows drawn with concentration no child of four weeks should possess.
That’s Evie.
No one says that out loud. No one needs to.
Evie bends over the cradle and places two fingers lightly against Lucia’s chest. Not to quiet her. To verify. Breathing. Warmth. Presence.
Then Sofia. The same.
Evie does this every time, too. No nurse corrects her. No doctor comments. No one suggests that she stop.
They have learned. Some habits are not problems to be solved. They are evidence of what survival cost.
I stand in the doorway and watch her. She knows I’m there. She doesn’t turn.
“You’re early,” she says.
“Yes.”
“Meeting finished?”
“No.”
That makes her look back. The old reflex is immediate. Assessment. Calculation. What has changed? What requires movement?
“Then why are you here?”
