“My daddy says I talkwaytoo much.” She giggles and turns her attention to Lev. “I like your headphones. I have pink ones like those.”
Lev’s hand lifts to the band across them, his fingertips tracing it while his eyes stay on her face, and everything in me goes rigid when I feel his hold on me begin to ease. His breathing turns heavier, and I watch him push through whatever wall usually keeps him from people.
“What grade are you in?” she asks. “I’m in first. Do you like school?”
She doesn’t wait for him to answer, just keeps going while he gapes at her like he can’t quite believe she’s real.
“I think recess is fun. Also reading, but the rest of it is booooring.”
She laughs again, and he takes a step toward her, still holding on to me. I let him, barely able to believe it. He never warms up to anyone this fast.
Then, little by little, his fingers begin to slip from Sloane’s. I go perfectly still, afraid one wrong move will make him pull back. When he lets go completely, he takes a few careful steps toward Rue.
“F-f-fourth,” he tells her, and my lungs seize so hard it hurts, as though someone cracked my ribs open with their bare hands.
“Wow, you’re big.” Rue beams up at him. “Do you like horses? This is my horse, Snickers. Wanna pet him? He’s really nice and won’t hurt you. He loooves kids. Come on, you can meet him.”
When she grabs his hand without asking, I almost stop her, but he lets her—just like that—and walks over to the horse with her.
A minute later, he smiles at something she says about Snickers, and I swear Rue has to be using some kind of magic.
Sloane is beside me before I realize she moved, close enough that her warmth reaches me. When she grabs my forearm and grins, I almost have to wonder how the hell this day went from being hell to perfect in an instant.
“I think he’s got a friend now.”
Of course it had to be a Whitlock.
She keeps looking at Lev as she says it, and there’s something in her tone that hits too deep, like she knows what this means to me. To him.
Bozhe moy. My God.This woman is special.
Ona tvoya.She’s yours.
But it’s selfish to want her the way I do.
I wind my arm around her and pull her in, ignoring the Whitlocks watching, ignoring her friend’s shock. None of it matters—not with her this close, not with my son smiling at another kid and looking like he finally belongs.
Lev keeps his eyes on Rue like he’s taking in everything about her. Every sound, every expression. He doesn’t speak again, but he doesn’t pull away either, petting the horse carefully the way she shows him.
Thora clasps her hands together.
“Seems like the kids like each other.” Her voice grows a little softer.
Our families are inching toward a war, and our kids decide to become friends in the middle of it. Yeah, that’s going to be a problem.
Jace’s features pull taut, like he’s had the same thought.
Lev and Rue stay by the horse for a few more minutes, her little hand pointing at one thing after another while he watches closely, taking it all in.
The fact that he’s still right there with her, still engaged, pulls at this part of me that feels a lot like hope. Hope that he’ll be okay. That maybe when I’m gone, he’ll have people around him who see him and love him exactly as he is, the way I do.
After a bit more, I drop my arm from Sloane and call to him. “Lev, davay poshli.”Lev, come on, let’s go.
But he simply glances at me, then ignores me. It should annoy me, but it brings satisfaction instead. This is exactly what he should be doing at his age.
“You’re leaving already?” Sloane asks, her eyes flicking to mine, cheeks growing crimson when my gaze drops to her mouth.
“Yes. He has therapy soon and I don’t want us to be late.”
