“It’s beautiful.”
“It has too many sprinkles,” Ethan observed.
Olivia glared. “There is no such thing.”
Noah nodded solemnly. “Sprinkles are tactical.”
“Tactical?” Margaret asked.
“For morale,” Noah explained.
A laugh escaped her, then turned into a sob she tried to hide with her hand.
Olivia touched her arm.
“Are you sad because you missed us being babies?”
Margaret froze.
I stepped forward, but she shook her head slightly. She wanted to answer.
“Yes,” she said softly. “Very sad.”
Olivia thought about that.
“We cried a lot anyway,” she said. “Mama says we sounded like tiny angry goats.”
Margaret laughed again. This time it held.
From the hall behind me came low voices.
Daniel had not joined the children.
He remained with General Paul and Captain Hale in the study, where the second folder had followed him like a sentence waiting to be read.
I did not ask what was happening.
