Chapter 6
I asked Theo one question at dinner.
“Does Aunt Winifred ever give things back?”
He nodded.
“When?”
“If I’m good.”
My chest tightened.
“What is good?”
He thought carefully.
“Quiet.”
Of course.
“What else?”
“No crying.”
I nodded.
“What else?”
He looked embarrassed.
“Kiss.”
My jaw tightened.
“Kiss who?”
He pointed toward the garden doors.
Winifred.
I kept my face calm.
“Does she make you kiss her?”
Theo shrugged.
“If I want fox.”
That was enough.
My sister looked sick.
I asked one more.
“Does she ever tell you I won’t come if you cry?”
Theo nodded.
My hand tightened around the napkin.
“What exactly?”
“She says Dad has important things.”
True enough to weaponize.
“And?”
“He doesn’t want baby stuff.”
I closed my eyes briefly.
Another borrowed piece of me.
I did have important things.
I did leave rooms for meetings.
I did sometimes tell servants not to interrupt.
Winifred had taken ordinary boundaries and stretched them around a child until they looked like rejection.
I looked at Theo.
“You can interrupt me.”
He frowned.
“Anytime?”
“If you need me.”
“What if meeting?”
“Yes.”
“What if angry men?”
I almost smiled.
“Especially then.”
He laughed.
Small.
Then stopped.
“What if Aunt Winifred says no?”
I looked at him.
“She doesn’t decide that anymore.”
Theo studied my face.
Children test promises before trusting them.
He climbed down from the chair.
Walked to my study.
Opened the door.
Three capos looked up.
Theo stood there.
Nothing happened.
I followed.
“What do you need?”
He looked at me.
Then held up the soaked wooden race car.
“Fix.”
The capos remained silent.
I knelt.
“Okay.”
He smiled.
That moment mattered.
Not because of the car.
May you like
Because he had crossed a threshold Winifred told him belonged to adults.
And discovered his father was still on the other side.
