Page 48

PROLOGUE

Curled up on the sofa like a kitten, all pouted lips, soft breaths and waves of hair spilling over the cushion. The most beautiful child ever to be born.

I touch your shoulder to stir you into a half-sleep, too grown now to be taken in my arms. Instead, you lean against me as I lead you to bed, mumbling how you are not tired and don’t want to go . Once I pull the sheet to your shoulders, in mere moments those eyelids flutter closed, traitorous lashes swept downwards once more.

Then I wait awhile at your bedside, hand at my chest.

How can you be mine? You were unplanned, a surprise, an unexpected gift. Somehow, you made your way into my life and burrowed into a space that wasn’t there. Now I don’t know where you end and I begin. You are my heart. My world. My daughter.

And I will do anything to give you the best life I can.

Anything.