Chương 52: “June Turns Ten”

She turned ten on a Thursday. It was not a large birthday. Lauren made a cake: chocolate, a bit lopsided, with ten candles that June blew out in one go and then looked immediately at Vorrath on the windowsill and her face made an expression of someone who had made a wish they want a witness for. He glowed once. She grinned. Cecile had stayed.

This was not discussed, she simply had not left, and her suitcase had migrated from the spare room to the wardrobe, and her coat was on the hook by the door, and June had started automatically setting four places at the table without being asked. The house had reorganized itself around her presence. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

After the cake, after Lauren had gone to bed and Cecile had gone upstairs, June sat on her bed cross-legged and looked at Vorrath with the look she used when she had been thinking about something for a long time and had decided to say it.

"I made a wish," she said. He waited.

"I wished that whatever comes next, we get to stay." She looked at her hands.

"All of us. You and me and Mom and Nan. Just — stay. Like this. For a long time." He sat on the windowsill. He thought about the Ledger making its category. He thought about what comes next. He thought about weeks, maybe months. He thought: she is ten years old and she has already learned that the things you want most are the things you have to ask for carefully, as though the universe might not notice if you're quiet about it. He glowed once. Not yes, exactly. Something more than yes. She seemed to understand.

She lay down, pulled the blanket up, and was asleep within minutes. He sat with her wish for a long time.