I shifted the rolling tray three inches left, angled my body so my shoulders wouldn’t block the view of the field. Let them watch. They would see clean hands, clean work, nothing wild.
I returned to the bed. “I’ll give you something that makes you sleep,” I told her. “You won’t feel a thing. When you wake up, the hard part will be over.”
Her small hand shot out and pinched the edge of my coat. “Will you leave… like Mommy did?”
The words went through me like a blade. I looked at the doll again…tidy, perfect…held like a stand-in for arms that hadn’t returned.
Eve went still. Then, softer than a breath: “She fears being left. Do not promise lightly.”
“I won’t,” I told her. And then I told Myra, “No. I won’t leave. I’ll be right here when you wake. And after, I’ll take you to get candy. T
