Part 6: Making Room
The following morning, Harper sat at my kitchen table between Lucas and Mia.
“What would you like for breakfast?” I asked.
“Pancakes.”
“Excellent choice.”
Lucas groaned.
“Don’t give her eggs.”
Harper frowned.
“Why?”
“Because you put ketchup on them.”
“I did that one time!”
“Still disgusting.”
“It was good.”
For the first time since Ethan’s car had pulled into my driveway, I stopped seeing Harper as a mystery.
She was simply a five year old girl arguing about breakfast.
Over the next few weeks, Claire slowly recovered.
The authorities made sure Ryan stayed away from both her and Harper while everything was investigated and handled through the proper channels.
Ethan continued helping with Harper whenever he was needed.
He also sat down with Lucas and Mia.
I insisted on that conversation.
“You never have to keep something from Grandma because I told you to,” Ethan said.
Mia frowned.
“Even if you say it’s private?”
“There’s a difference between respecting someone’s privacy and carrying a secret that makes you worried.”
Lucas watched him closely.
“What if you tell us not to tell?”
“If something scares you or makes you uncomfortable, you tell Grandma anyway.”
“Even if you get mad?”
“Especially then.”
I stood in the hallway listening.
For the first time in several days, I smiled.
Claire called me from the hospital not long afterward.
“I owe you an explanation,” she said.
“You don’t owe me anything. Ethan, however, owes me several years off my life.”
Claire laughed.
Then suddenly she began to cry.
“I’m sorry.”
I softened.
“Don’t apologize to me.”
Before we ended the call, she told me something I would never forget.
After waking from surgery, Claire had looked at Ethan and said:
“If I can’t take Harper home yet, please don’t let her think nobody wants her.”
Ethan had taken those words seriously.
Maybe too seriously, in the sense that he tried to carry everything alone.
But Harper had never once believed she was unwanted.
