Madeline:
We were both staring at each other when someone’s arrival shifted Baxter’s energy. He straightened his back, turned around, and rubbed his face with his hands.
I spun toward the small balcony where little Gina stood.
“Mommy!” she called out, and as soon as I heard her voice, I smiled through my tears and rushed over to pick her up.
“You okay now?” I asked with a wide smile.
“I’m fine. I just had a dream,” she said with a pout.
Baxter pivoted on his heel, his gaze meeting mine.
“What kind of dream?” I asked her as I carefully sat her on the railing, keeping my hands behind her back while she clung to me.
“I saw a man in a cave. An old man. He was blind, and he was doing something with his hands,” she said, recalling the dream in vivid detail.
I swallowed hard before I cou
