Josh gazed at Nate in blue-eyed wonder, sucking loudly on his middle and pointer fingers. I should’ve made him stop before the habit affected his teeth but couldn’t bear to take away the last traces of babyhood. At five, he was already growing up too fast.

“Just then, the moon rose over the trees, bright and yellow as a wedge of cheese. The chief’s wife knew it was the sign she’d asked for, so she closed her eyes and jumped—”

“—and turned into a beautiful white bird,” I interrupted.

“That’s right.” Nate nodded. “And her daughter was saved.”

“And they all lived happily ever after.” Josh yawned sleepily.

“Exactly.”

Nate pulled the covers to Josh’s chin, and I kissed his forehead. He felt a little warm to me. He’d been suffering on and off with a cold the last few weeks.

“Mommy, my throat hurts. Will you stay with me?”

In my peripheral vision, I caught Nate rolling his eyes. He thought I was too permissive.

“You need him as much as he needs you,” Nate had said once, not exactly in a nice way.

Nate drew an X over his heart, then pointed at me before heading downstairs. It was our shorthand for I love you. I smiled.

“Course I’ll stay.” I lay next to Josh so we were nose-to-nose. The sight of his innocent little face on the pillow beside me cracked my heart wide open. I loved him so much.

Josh laced his fingers through mine, his tiny hands impossibly soft. “I wish we could get married when I grow up.”

I smiled. Little boys loved their mamas so much. That love had changed me, made me a better person, a stronger person. “We have something even better than being married: we’re mommy and son. We share the same blood and the same DNA. That’s closer than friends or even mommies and daddies. We’re family forever.”

He pondered that for a minute. “Would you turn into a bird for me?” he asked.

I gazed into his sapphire eyes. He was so perfect. The best thing in my life. So when I answered, I was 100 percent truthful.

“Of course,” I said. “I would do anything for you.”

DOWNSTAIRS, NATE was sprawled across the couch, his floppy brown hair still wet from a shower. Charlie, our elderly basset hound, wagged his tail at me from his bed next to the fireplace. I stroked his long ears, splayed like wings. Around me, the living room walls and fireplace mantel were covered with photos that narrated the family life we’d built together.

I handed Nate a bag of cookies. “I got you these on the way home.”

“Snickerdoodles! My favorite.” He grabbed the bag and pulled me onto his lap, kissing me hard. “Thanks, babe. Want one?”

I gave him a look. He knew I didn’t allow myself sugar.