No response.
I tried again. “It is Daddy.”
A soft whimper drifted through the wood. The sound froze me. Her instincts had never been this volatile.
I opened the door slowly. She sat on the floor by her bed, hugging her knees, trying to stifle her trembling. Her eyes glowed faintly red.
I crouched beside her. “Come here.”
She climbed into my arms at once and buried her face in my shirt. Her body shook from effort as she tried to restrain the instinctive responses pushing to the surface.
Her voice cracked. “Why did they leave without me?”
“They did not want to leave,” I said gently. “It was not their choice.”
She lifted her head slightly. “Then why are they gone?”
The question had only one answer. I hated that it existed.
“Adults made mistakes,” I said. “I will fix it.”
She loo
