He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. “I sang to you every single night. ‘Fais dodo, Colas mon p’tit frère.’ It’s a French lullaby. You’d snuggle up with your stuffed rabbit, Johnny, and lay on your side. You always slept on your side.” He stopped, emotion catching in his throat.
“I remember him,” Margot said, her voice full of wonder. “I remember someone’s lap. And feeling warm. And the singing.”
“That was us,” Vance said softly. “That was me and you. Every night before bed. You didn’t make it up. Your mom—” He stopped himself, clearly fighting to stay kind. “Your mom told you things that weren’t true. But your memories? Those are real. You can trust them.”
Margot stared at him, and her guard dropped just a fraction. “Will you … will you sing it? So I can hear if it’s the same?”
Vance’s voice broke. “Yeah. Yeah, I can do that.”
He began to hum, then sang softly in French, his voice rough with emotion but tender. Just a few lines of the lullaby.
Margot’s eyes filled with tears. “That’s it. That’s the song.”
“Yeah, mon cœur. That’s our song.”
And then Margot did something that shocked all of us. She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Vance’s neck.
He froze for half a second, like he couldn’t believe it was happening, then carefully—so carefully—put his arms around her.
“I remember,” she whispered against his shoulder. “I remember you.”
Mia had come to stand beside me, taking my hand, both of us in tears. We’d just witnessed something so profound, so moving, that it felt like a gift to be here—to witness a reunion between two people who should never have been torn apart.
Vance couldn’t get the years back—and that was tragic. But they had a second chance. Margot had a second chance to be raised by her father, who adored her and would do anything for her. Soon, she would truly understand how much he loved her.
“Do you want that ice cream now?” Vance asked, his voice husky.
“Yes, please,” Margot said. “Cookie dough.”
“I’m on it,” Mia said, letting go of my hand and wiping her eyes.
“Just a small amount, please,” Margot said.
Mia nodded. “Sure thing.” She hustled about the kitchen, grabbing the ice cream and scooper. I pulled down two bowls and set them on the counter.
“Do you like Studio Ghibli?” Mia asked. “We could watchMy Neighbor Totoro.”
“I don’t know what that is,” Margot said.
“It’s one of my favorite movies. I cannot wait to talk about it with you afterward. I’m obsessed with Hayao Miyazaki.”
Mia led Margot over to the couch. She gave the smaller girl her bowl of ice cream and tucked a blanket around her. “This is my favorite blanket, but you can have it tonight.”
Margot just looked at her like she couldn’t quite believe it was all true. “You get to eat on the couch?”
“Yeah. Mom got that stuff that makes stains easy to clean. I used to be messy when I was younger.” Mia pulled the movie up on the television. “Mom let me buy it so I could watch it over and over.”
Vance looked at me, like, now what?
I gestured toward the love seat. “It’s a great movie. Come sit with me?”
Vance grabbed my hand, bringing it to his lips. “I’d love to,” he whispered before taking hold of our wine glasses and following me.
We sat together, snuggling close, with our glasses of wine in hand, listening to Mia describe the movie.
“Okay, so this movie is about two sisters who move to the countryside in Japan. And there are these magical forest spirits that only kids can see. The main one is Totoro—he’s this giant fluffy creature who’s basically the sweetest thing ever.”
“Is it scary?” Margot asked.
