“I will.”
Julian came to stand beside us.
“You should know,” he said, “that being present may be more difficult than arriving dramatically.”
“I understand.”
“No,” he said, with a faint smile. “But you will.”
For the first time since entering the house, I allowed myself to smile back.
I knelt beside Lily and Samuel.
“I have to go home for a little while,” I told them.
Samuel held up the train. “Take it?”
“Would you let me?”
He thought carefully, then shook his head. “It belongs here.”
“You’re right.”
Lily reached for a piece of paper and a blue crayon. She drew quickly, then held it out to me.
It was a crooked house with four figures standing beneath a yellow sun.
“Who are they?” I asked.
“Mommy. Daddy. Samuel. Me.”
She pointed to a small figure outside the house.
“And you.”
My throat tightened.
“Where am I?”
