She picked up the two wrapped packages and held them out to Emma.

Emma hugged Barnaby tighter against her ribs and looked at me without moving.

“Go on and open them, sweetie,” I said, smoothing my skirt down over my knees.

We went into the front room, and my mother put the two boxes on the rug beside Emma’s little wooden play chair.

Emma untied the red ribbon on the bigger box and found a painted wooden dollhouse with tiny green furniture inside.

My mother sat on the edge of my flowered sofa and smoothed her skirt over her knees.