He was not rude. He was something more difficult than rude. He was certain.
He told May that Aunt Helen missed her. That the room was ready. He said it with genuine warmth, which made it harder to argue with.
May went very still.
Then he looked at Ruth directly. He had the courtesy not to lower his voice.
“I don’t know what you came here looking for, but those children have had enough people pass through their lives and not stay. My sister-in-law died in that back room fourteen months ago. May was the one who found her.”
He paused.
“A woman passing through is not a solution. It’s another loss waiting to happen.”
The kitchen was absolutely quiet.
Ruth looked at him steadily. “You’re not wrong,” she said simply, without bitterness, because it was true and she had been thinking it herself for weeks. “His coffee’s in the pot if you want to wait for him.”
She had been watching May’s face the whole time Daniel was speaking. She picked her up now, just lifted her. This six-year-old who had not been picked up by anyone in fourteen months because she had been too busy being the responsible one. May went rigid with surprise for exactly one second before something in her gave and she allowed it.
Ruth carried her out of the kitchen.
May’s face over her shoulder, looking back at her uncle, entirely unreadable.
Eli watched them go. He looked at Daniel, then at the cat, then he picked up his wooden spoon and offered it to his uncle with great seriousness.
Daniel took it because there was nothing else to do.
Calvin came in that evening and found Daniel at the table with his coffee and the expression of a man who has been rehearsing something. May took Eli to bed without being asked. When the house was quiet, Daniel set his cup down.
“She’s not going to stay. Women like that, passing through, they leave when it gets hard. And when she goes, May loses someone else. Eli won’t remember why he’s crying, but he’ll cry.”
He paused.
“You’ve just started looking like yourself again. I’m not watching you go back to how you were.”
Calvin looked at the table.
