Sophie steps in, smoother than me because she is better at this. “People in Paradise and Hell stare because they are nosy, bored, and allergic to minding their own business. But they also talk. We can use that.”
Amelia presses a hand to her stomach. “I don’t want August dragged through gossip.”
“He won’t be,” Legend says.
“How can you promise that?”
“Because anyone who gossips about the kid answers to me.”
She studies him.
He means it.
Everyone in the room knows he means it.
Maybe she starts to.
Her shoulders lower a little.
“Okay,” she says again, quieter.
The word feels heavier this time.
Like a contract.
Like a first step over a line none of us can see yet.
August calls from upstairs.
“Mama?”
Amelia turns so fast she nearly trips.
I catch her elbow before I think.
She freezes.
My hand drops immediately.
“Sorry,” I say.
She looks at my hand, then my face.
“No,” she says, breath unsteady. “It’s okay. You startled me.”
“Won’t happen again.”
Something in her eyes softens.
Then August calls again, more frightened. “Mama!”
She rushes for the stairs.
Sophie follows, but Amelia looks back at me from the first step.
Not at Legend.
Not at the room.