I found Ethan standing in Lily's doorway at two in the afternoon, completely still, staring at something in his hands.
"Ethan?" I touched his shoulder, and he flinched like I'd burned him. "What's wrong? Is Lily okay?"
"She's fine. She's at Grace's for the afternoon." His voice sounded hollow. Broken. "I was just putting away her laundry and I found... I found this."
He held out a piece of construction paper, red and green with glitter glued around the edges in Lily's chaotic six-year-old style. My eyes scanned the words written in careful, uneven letters.
Dear Santa,
I've been very good this year. Daddy says so. I don't want toys or games or even a real pony (but that would be cool). I only want one thing.
I want Ava to be my new mommy.
She's nice and pretty and she makes Daddy smi
