I stood very still, convinced I must have misheard. Then she added, in a thoughtful tone, “Maybe he’d like the blue car.”
I walked slowly to her doorway.
Ava was sitting cross-legged on the floor, surrounded by toys, dividing them into neat little piles.
“Sweetheart,” I said carefully, “what did you just say?”
She startled, her eyes widening. “Nothing.”
I stepped into the room and sat beside her. “I heard you mention a brother.”
Her shoulders stiffened. She avoided my gaze.
“I wasn’t supposed to say,” she whispered.
A cold wave moved through me. “Say what?”
She hesitated, then looked up at me with complete sincerity.
“My brother lives at Grandma’s,” she said. “But it’s a secret.”
The room suddenly felt smaller.
“Ava,” I said gently, forcing calm into my voice, “you don’t have a brother.”
“Yes, I do,” she insisted softly. “Grandma told me.”
My heart began to pound.
