His voice was very small, and his big eyes came up off his shoes to look into mine.

I felt Rosalind go still beside me, holding her breath.

“I am,” I said.

“And we are going to figure everything out together, all of us, and we’re going to take it slow, and it’s going to be okay.

But there is one thing I need you both to know right now, tonight, before anything else.” I made myself hold Mason’s eyes.

“Your mom tried everything she could think of to find me.