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Just like her.
“Have you read them?” Waverley asks.
I look over at the stack of letters. “Not yet. Do you think I should?”
“Yes. You missed so much, and Mum told you all about it when she’d write. The weddings.” She rolls her eyes. “And Christmas days. My school stuff, like parents’ evening. Oh, and the day I got Bear. You have lots to read about.”
Idoneed to read them. Immediately. “What’s so bad about the weddings?”
“I only remember Uncle Charlie and Lissie’s, but they kissed, and then Uncle Charlie left me for two whole months to go on a honeymoon. He only called me two times.”
“Two times aweek, Ave. You’re going to have to let that go eventually.” I move my gaze to where Scarlet is standing in the bedroom doorway. “Come on. Back to bed,” she says softly.
Waverley sighs, giving me one last squeeze before she sits up. “Can we walk Bear together tomorrow?”
“For sure,” I promise her.
She climbs from the bed, Bear instantly getting up to follow. “Good night, Dad.”
“Good night, Waverley.”
“I…” She looks at Scarlet, her expression unsure. “Will you come, Mummy? To walk Bear. Just the three of us.”
I see Scarlet working around a swallow, her mouth opening and closing as Waverley and I seem to wait on whatever her reply might be. “We’ll see, okay? Go get into bed. I’ll come tuck you in.”
She disappears out of the room, but Scarlet hovers, her smile forced as she glances back over at me. “You’re in pain.”
Not a question.
I nod, deciding not to lie. “A little.”
“You need rest tomorrow. She’ll be okay with Bear for another day. If you don’t rest, you won’t heal.”
“I overdid it today. I can admit that. But I can manage a walk.”
She watches me, her eyes hesitant as they flutter around my face. I know she’s thinking about what happened before dinner. How she found me. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
She rolls her lips and nods. “Do you get them often?”
“Not often enough for it to be a problem. Normally just when I get tired.”
“Out in the meadow today, you said you get sleep here.” She drops her eyes momentarily before looking back up, bringing with them an apology in the depths. “You were lying.”
“I’m fine, Scarlet.”
“That wasn’t…” She trails off, her brows drawing together, but then she nods. “Sorry. It’s not… It’s not my business. I’ll leave you to rest.”
Before I can stop her. Before I can tell her it’ll only ever be her business, she leaves, shutting the door gently behind her.
I sigh, dropping my head back to the pillow.
After a while, I give in and reach over to pull the next envelope from the stack of letters.
Lance,
My thoughts are scattered today. I find myself thinking about you without realising it at times, and then I end up in this deep void of darkness that I can’t seem to crawl out of. I remember the day we lost Joey. Not all of it—I seem to pick and choose the parts of that morning. Maybe that’s a good thing. But the one thing I can’t forget, that seems to live with me through every new step through this life, is the moment it was clear you were going to be taken from me.
