PART ONE
PROLOGUE
LAKE
28 years ago
"Lake! We need to go or we’ll be late!"
Aiden’s voice calls from the direction of the driveway.
I sigh and look over at Vren, my husband’s brother-in-law, who is here to stay with the kids. He is trying to clean up the crumbs that Snow keeps producing with impressive dedication. In front of him lies a stack of papers he has been scribbling on while eating a blueberry croissant.
Winter is watching him with a frown.
"Do you have to be such a pig?" he mutters.
"Winter, don’t talk to your brother like that. You made just as much of a mess when you were his age."
"Not that much," Winter grumbles, pouting.
Snow looks up from under his messy white bangs, then sticks his tongue out at him.
"Daaaaad! Snow stuck his tongue out at me!" Winter immediately tattles, as if I don’t see it myself.
Vren wipes the table again, smiling. "You’d better get going, Lake, or you really will be late."
"All right, all right, I’m going," I say, brushing some crumbs off my sweatshirt. I am wearing yoga pants and a loose hoodie that does a poor job of hiding my very round belly. I am nearly nine months along, but I refuse to give up my weekly prenatal yoga classes.
"Will you be gone long?" River asks in a hesitant voice.
I turn to him. My oldest son is standing by the window, holding his violin, his big blue-green eyes fixed on me. The sunlight catches his hair, lighting up deep red tones.
"Two hours at most," I say, walking over to him.
"I want you to help me practice," he murmurs.
I tilt my head and kiss his cheek. "River, your performance isn’t for another two weeks. You’ll have plenty of time to make it perfect. You’re already doing so well."
"That’s not true! I still mess up all the time!" His lips, usually curved in a sweet smile, now tremble with frustration, his eyes filling with tears.
"Hey, don’t put so much pressure on yourself. You’re already playing well, and you’ve got two whole weeks left to practice."
"I want to practice today," River says stubbornly, still pouting.
"We’ll practice when I get back, I promise, okay?" I sigh.
Snow jumps down from his high chair and runs to me, holding out a sheet of paper. It is a drawing of our whole family, me, his dad, River, Winter, and Snow. In my arms, he drew a tiny baby with a tuft of dark red hair.
"Oh, what a beautiful picture, Snow! You even added your new baby brother!"
River leans over my arm to look. "How do you know what color his hair will be? Maybe he’ll be blond like you guys."
Snow doesn’t say anything. Even though he is almost three, he still doesn’t talk. He just points at my belly, then at the baby in the drawing, and nods firmly.
"In about two weeks, we’ll see if you’re right about the red hair," I say with a smile.
"Lake!" Aiden’s voice comes from behind me. "We’ve got twenty-five minutes. We’ll just make it if we leave now."
