Chapter 27 - SOPHIE’S QUESTIONSophie turned seven in June.
Yellow remained her favorite color.
Emily had expected that phase to disappear.
It never did.
This year Sophie chose a lemon cake with yellow flowers.
Daniel stared when he saw it.
Emily noticed.
“You okay?”
“Yeah.”
“You sure?”
Daniel nodded.
“It’s cake.”
Years earlier that sentence would have been impossible.
Guests arrived.
Melissa.
Ava.
Peter.
Hannah.
Rebecca.
Nathan stopped by carrying a book and absolutely no legal documents.
“Best gift you’ve ever brought,” Emily told him.
Peter brought another inflatable animal.
This time an elephant.
Nobody understood why.
Before the candles, Sophie pulled Daniel aside.
“Daddy?”
“Yeah?”
“Is Grandma Margaret coming?”
Daniel crouched.
“No.”
“Because she’s in prison?”
“Yes.”
“Because she hurt people?”
“Yes.”
Sophie looked toward her cake.
“Did she say sorry?”
Daniel felt Emily watching from several feet away.
He answered slowly.
“She has said the word.”
Sophie frowned.
“That’s not what I asked.”
Emily nearly smiled.
Daniel did too.
“No,” he said. “I don’t think she has really apologized.”
“How do you know?”
Daniel sat beside his daughter.
“Because saying sorry is more than saying a word.”
“What is it?”
“Changing.”
Sophie considered.
“Like when I pushed Ava and then stopped pushing?”
“Yes.”
“And gave her my marker?”
“That helped.”
Sophie nodded.
Then asked, “Did you say sorry?”
Daniel’s throat tightened.
“To you?”
“Yes.”
“I did.”
“Did you change?”
He looked toward Emily.
She gave him nothing.
No rescue.
No reassurance.
This answer belonged to him.
“I’m trying to keep changing.”
Sophie smiled.
“Okay.”
Children sometimes accepted truths adults spent decades running from.
She returned to the party.
Daniel remained seated.
Emily approached.
“You handled that.”
“Did I?”
“She walked away happy.”
“That’s not always the measure.”
Emily looked at him.
“No.”
Daniel smiled.
He had learned.
When everyone gathered around the cake, Sophie made them sing twice because Melissa started too early the first time.
Then Sophie closed her eyes.
Made a wish.
And blew out every candle at once.
Nobody knew what she wished for.
May you like
Emily liked that.
Some things belonged only to Sophie.
