always faded slightly.
“Beautiful.”
“Can I hear Mama?”
Sometimes I played the lullaby.
Sometimes I couldn’t.
Whenever Sarah’s voice filled the room, it felt like losing her again.
I told myself Ari was too young to understand.
The truth was simpler.
I wasn’t ready.
By the time Ari turned two, she had become the kind of child who watched before joining in.
She wasn’t exactly shy.
She simply observed first.
Then smiled.
That year, I decided she deserved a special birthday gift.
I walked into a toy store with no
