Chapter 20

It had wounded Derek’s heart when Lene had announced she was having Myles’ baby, but we’d pull through that tough time. I’d taken him to France. We’d made peace.

“That’s a pretty flower,” I said, finally walking in.

Violet-Rose stared at me with her father’s eyes. Impossible to read. “It’s a frog,” she corrected me.

“Oh, my bad.” I leaned in and kissed Derek’s hair. “Hi.”

“Hello.” He set Violet-Rose down. “It’s really late,” he told her. “Go get your dad. Show him what you painted, okay?”

She wore a pink silk kimono and a black velvet rose in her orange hair. Myles’s gifts from Japan, I guessed. She stared at the paintbrush in her chubby fingers and then dropped it on the floor, taking off.

“Wait, will she be all right?” I checked the hall.

“Oh, yeah, she knows her way around here and she never falls or breaks anything.”

I sighed, the exhaustion and hunger slowly settling in. “Lene was like that as a kid. She moved like a cat.”