She nodded and went back to arranging Bunny’s cape, but I kept sitting beside her.

It was the clearest reminder I could have had that a child’s questions are rarely the questions adults expect.

I had been worrying about guardianship and wills.

Harper wanted to know whether her life would still feel like hers.

That morning, she chose her blue sweater with the stitched daisies at the cuffs.

She insisted on carrying a folded picture she had drawn of herself, Ryan, Paige, and me.

She said if the older man was sad, she might show it to him.