I nearly laughed. “You are making things up.”
“I am never wrong about these things.”
“You are often wrong about these things.”
She placed a hand against her chest as though wounded. “That hurts, Edwina.”
I fixed the banner into place and stepped down carefully. “You are reading too much into an accident.”
Giselle gave me a look that said she disagreed completely.
“Fine,” she said. “Maybe. But if he starts acting weird for the rest of the day, I want credit for noticing first.”
I shook my head, trying to dismiss it, though a part of me wondered if she had seen something I was choosing not to examine. And when I glanced toward the kitchen doorway a moment later and found Daniel already looking away, a little too fast, I decided it was probably best not to mention it again.
A little later, while we were arranging plates and party hats, my phone buzzed on the counter. When I saw Aster and Gwen calling, warmth moved through me at once. I answered, and their faces appeared together on the screen, both of them bundled in coats, cheeks pink from the cold. They started talking over each other before I could even say hello.
“Happy birthday to my baby!” Gwen cried.
“Happy birthday to my most favorite person on earth,” Aster added.
I laughed, already missing them. “You two have not even said hello to me.”
“Hello, Edwina,” Gwen said quickly. “Now show us the birthday girl.”
“She is still with Mrs. Graham, getting ready for a little while,” I said, angling the phone as I walked back toward the living room. “I am using the quiet while I still have it.”
Aster smiled when she saw the decorations behind me. “It looks beautiful already.”
“That is because I was involved,” Giselle called from across the room, stepping into view.
“And because I carried everything,” Daniel added from behind her.
Gwen brightened. “Daniel is there too? Good. At least one responsible adult made it.”
I covered my mouth, laughing, while Giselle turned and pointed at Daniel as if Gwen’s comment had somehow become his fault.
Aster’s smile softened. “We wanted to call before everything got busy. We are going to be in London for Christmas break.”
I froze for a second, then my face lit up. “You are?”
Gwen nodded. “Both of us. We already decided. We are stealing at least one full day of your holiday.”
“You are not stealing anything,” I said. “I’m giving it to you willingly.”
“That’s exactly what I wanted to hear,” Aster said.
“And,” Gwen added, lifting a finger, “I expect café visits, pretty streets, Christmas lights, and pastries that fix at least three emotional problems.”
That made all of us laugh, and for a little while, everything felt lighter. The apartment, the party preparations, the voices on the screen, all of it wrapped around me in a way I had needed more than I realized.
When the call ended, I stood there with my phone still in my hand and looked around the apartment.
The balloons were up. The cake waited in the kitchen. Gifts were stacked by the table, Helena’s Frozen plates were laid out, and the ribbon around her present caught the light whenever I passed. Giselle was fixing the tablecloth, while Daniel stood by the window, adjusting the balloon strings so they would stop tangling together.
Everything had started perfectly. Maybe that was why some part of me should have known life would not let me keep it that way.
By the afternoon, the apartment was full. Children’s laughter moved from room to room, coats piled near the door, and music played beneath the chatter. Helena ran through it all with the bright, breathless joy only a child could have on her birthday. Every time I looked at her, my chest ached in the best and worst way.