Page 131 of Forbidden to Fall

James and I climbed onto the driver’s seat, and I found my hands were trembling.

“Can I drive the wagon with Aunt Sadie and Mr. James, Daddy? Oh, please, oh, please!”

I couldn’t help but turn to see how Ryan took this bold request.

His eyes darted to me, and I gave a nod.

“Just for a minute, okay?” he said.

Mia would’ve been happy with five seconds and was already crawling between James and me. She climbed onto my lap, and I had to hold the reins up too high for her to grab.

I took a few seconds to coach her through how to hold them—with my assistance—and soon, we were rumbling over the path, leaving the light of the fires behind.

Mia’s little body was full of energy, like a personified silent squeal.

I glanced back in time to see Ryan thread his fingers through Lily’s. Their gazes met, more somber than usual, and I looked away, giving them their privacy. I got the sense things were still raw. But the fact that they were here meant they’d done something they’d struggled to do for years before they’d gotten married: ride out the tough times together instead of apart.

James slipped his arm around my shoulders, then kissed my hair as Mia chattered about how silly it was to think that someone without a head could guide a horse.

Things weren’t perfect, but for the first time, we were heading in the right direction.

I took slow steps through the sugar shack, tapping my chin. “I just don’t know where Mia could be,” I said in an unnecessarily loud voice. “I’ve looked everywhere.”

There was a muffled giggle from the cupboard.

James put his hands on his hips, not even bothering to stifle his smile. “What should we do?”

I sighed dramatically. “All we can do is give up.”

“True. At least someone left us all this maple taffy”—he put his hand on a Ziploc baggie full of them—“to make us feel better.”

The cupboard door burst open. “Noooo! Those are mine!” Mia came charging out.

“Ha! There you are!” I opened my arms, inviting a hug.

She charged right past and grabbed the bag on the counter, holding it against her chest and looking at James as though he was her sworn enemy.

I dropped my arms anticlimactically. “Love you too, Mimi.”

“Mommy says I’m not ‘pose to eat them until I clean my room,” Mia said, as though James had nearly violated international law by even considering it.

A baby cry sounded outside the sugar shack, and she straightened. “Baby Alfie is here!” She ran for the door, and James and I both tilted our heads.

There was an incriminating taffy wrapper stuck to the back of her dress.

“Looks like she already cleaned her room,” James said.

“She did not,” I said, putting away some of the clean mixing bowls. “I was there an hour ago, helping her pack. Speaking of which, she insists on using the Batman sleeping bag. You sure you’re ready for this? She’s hoping for a tiger sighting—just before you wrestle it to the ground, of course.”

James restacked a pile of cardboard pastry boxes in the corner. “What do you think I was preparing for all those years in the wilds of Canada?”

“True.”

“Besides, Ryan said he’s going to sleep out with us too.”

“Sleep is a generous way of putting what we’ll be doing. Mia’s used to a Moana nightlight, an Encanto nightlight, and an adjustable one she turns all the way up after her parents shut the door each night.”

James chuckled. “The stars will have to do. Where’s Zoey, by the way?”