Natalia
The twins’ sixth birthday was less than a week away, and I’d been planning something special for weeks. Andrei had missed five birthdays already—five years of blown-out candles and unwrapped presents and sleepy children falling asleep in frosting-covered party clothes.
This year was going to be different.
I hadn’t told him about the party yet. I wanted it to be a surprise, not just for the twins, but for him, too.
The twins, who, like Andrei, believed we were just going to have a family dinner, had been very specific in their requests. Max wanted a dinosaur cake. Jane wanted streamers and balloons.
“Are you sure you don’t want any help with this?” Grace asked as we stood in the kitchen the day before the party, surveying the disaster zone we’d created. Flour seemed to be coa
