“Come up to the porch,” I said.

I carried the rake to the side of the brick house and leaned it against the aluminum gutter.

I waved for her to follow me up the wooden steps.

We sat down together on the top step of the porch, hidden from the street by the thick front pillars.

“You went digging through her private room,” I said.

Lily unwound the red ribbon and wrapped it slowly around her thumb.

“My dad told me my real mother was still alive,” Lily said.