Chapter 3

Nearly two days passed.

I gathered our documents in silence while Graham behaved as though nothing had changed.

Then a sharp crash came from Sylvie’s bedroom.

I hurried down the hallway and found her frozen in the doorway.

Nico was inside.

He had opened her closet and scattered her belongings across the floor.

In his hands was Sylvie’s gold-embossed writing trophy.

He swung it through the air like a toy sword.

“Put it down,” Sylvie said.

Nico ignored her.

He climbed onto the bed and raised the trophy above his head.

“I won this!”

“No, you didn’t.”

Sylvie stepped into the room.

“That’s mine. Give it back.”

Nico hugged the trophy against his chest.

“But I want it.”

“You can’t have it.”

Sylvie reached for the base.

Nico jerked it away.

The trophy slipped from his hands and struck the edge of the nightstand.

The glass base shattered.

Sylvie gasped.

A sharp piece cut across her palm.

Blood appeared between her fingers.

I rushed forward and wrapped a towel around her hand.

Graham entered the room seconds later.

He looked at the broken trophy.

Then he immediately pulled Nico behind him.

“Are you hurt?”

Nico shook his head.

Sylvie stood only a few feet away, blood running down her wrist.

“He broke her trophy and cut her hand,” I said.

“It was an accident.”

Graham crouched in front of Nico and checked his arms.

Daphne hurried into the room.

“What happened?”

“Sylvie tried to take the trophy from him,” Graham explained.

I stared at him.

“It belonged to her.”

“Nico didn’t know it was fragile.”

“He was told to put it down.”

Daphne wrapped both arms around her son.

“He’s only seven. He saw something shiny and wanted to play with it.”

“And now my daughter is bleeding.”

My voice rose.

Nico flinched and buried his face against Daphne.

Graham immediately stood.

“Stop shouting. You’re frightening him.”

I looked down at Sylvie’s injured hand.

“You’re worried that he’s frightened?”

“It’s a small cut, Maren. Don’t turn this into another disaster.”

“It was her trophy.”

“We can replace it.”

Sylvie tightened her fingers around the towel.

Graham finally looked at her.

“You should have asked me to handle it instead of grabbing things from a younger child.”

Sylvie stared at him in disbelief.

“I only wanted my trophy back.”

“And Nico made a mistake. You need to learn how to forgive people.”

The room became completely silent.

Sylvie lowered her eyes.

She didn’t cry.

She simply stepped over the broken pieces and walked out with me.

I cleaned the cut in the bathroom and wrapped a bandage around her palm.

Then I closed the bedroom door.

I pulled two suitcases from beneath the bed.

Sylvie watched as I packed our identification, her school records, several changes of clothes and the Broken Promises folder.

She took the Someday Jar from beneath her pillow and placed it carefully inside her backpack.

“Are we leaving?” she asked.

“Yes.”

I looked at the time.

Two hours until we left.