Mikhail
I’m buttoning Lena’s sweater when I hear light steps approach and lift my head to find Bianca standing in the doorway. She looks around, walks to the dresser to take the box with Lena’s hair ties, and turns toward me with a question in her eyes. I look at the box she’s holding, then back to her face. Bianca sighs, points to the box, to herself, and then to Lena. She wants to do my daughter’s hair, and the realization makes something in my chest squeeze.
“Lenochka, do you want Bianca to do your hair today?”
Lena’s head snaps up and she beams. “Yes! I want lots of braids, like Noemi from day care. Bianca, Bianca, do you know how to make lots of braids? Daddy only knows pigtails.”
Bianca is trying not to laugh at my daughter’s babbling and failing. She sits down on the bed next
