Daniel dropped to his knees.
Everything he had buried for years surged at once. Hope. Fear. Wonder. Grief. Tears blurred his vision.
“She’s been doing that?” he whispered.
Maria nodded, tears sliding down her face. “Not every day. Not for long. But she wants to. She tries when no one tells her she can’t.”
Daniel pressed his forehead into the carpet and sobbed.
That night, he didn’t dismiss Maria. He sat with her at the kitchen table until morning.
