Harper said a quick goodbye and disconnected before turning to face her sister. “Sorry. I got held up. I’m ready now.”

Karoline frowned as she studied her. “That was him, wasn’t it?”

She hesitated but ultimately nodded.

“What’d he have to say?”

“He’s sending money so I can get the girls some Christmas presents.”

“From him?”

“Yeah.”

“How thoughtful of him,” she said.

Harper tried to ignore the heavy sarcasm. Her conversation with Axel had stung badly enough. “We’d better go eat.”

Karoline caught her arm as Harper tried to pass her. “I’m considering taking the girls to LA.”

“Your girls?”

“Yours, too.”

“For…”

“A Disneyland trip.”

“When?”

“Today.”

“But…it’s a two-hour drive to Orange County! They’ll miss half the day by the time we can get there.”

“We won’t be going to Disneyland until tomorrow. Actually, we might even wait until Monday. It’ll be less crowded then.”

“So why do you want to leave today?”

“Why not? It was June the last time we took a family vacation.”

“Oh. You plan to stay. For how long?”

“Five or six days. Maybe a week. We could also go to the San Diego Zoo, the La Brea Tar Pits, shopping on Rodeo Drive. There’s so much to do.”

“Then we’d better get packed.”

Her sister gave her a pointed look. “You’ll need to pack only if you want to go with us.”

Harper blinked at her. “What do you mean?”

“Terrance is off work for the holidays, so this is a good time for us,” her sister said. “We’re willing to take Everly and Piper without you—to give you a chance to recover. I feel like you could use that.”

The prospect of being alone, of having even a few days without the heavy responsibility of trying to pretend she was okay for the sake of her children, was tempting. “Are you sure that would be okay?” she asked tentatively.

Her sister seemed resolute. “Positive. We’d like them to build some good memories that include Aunt Karoline and Uncle Terrance and their cousins.”

Somehow Axel could be gone for weeks, miss birthdays and holidays, and feel no guilt. But Harper couldn’t miss a few days at Disneyland without feeling as though she was letting her children down. “Shouldn’t I be part of those memories?”

“You should pull yourself together while they’re happily engaged with us.”

The lump that rose in Harper’s throat made it difficult to speak. “I’m trying. You know that, don’t you?”

“I do,” she said softly. “And you’ll figure it out, I promise.”

Hoping and praying her sister was right, she nodded as though she believed it was true, even though she wasn’t entirely convinced. So what if she wasn’t bleeding on the outside? She’d never felt so deeply wounded.

“When is Axel coming back, by the way?” Karoline asked.