“We had money for parties, but she liked homemade cakes better.

She said the crooked icing made them ours.”

I pictured Paige kneeling beside Harper’s birthday cake, pretending the uneven candles were an artistic choice.

She had done the same thing in our kitchen.

It hurt and comforted me to discover this had been part of her long before she met Ryan.

Natalie turned to another page.

Evelyn stood beneath a tree, holding baby Brandon.

Paige had both hands in her mother’s skirt.