I laughed. I didn’t know anything about Billie Holiday, but the songs were listed on the back and I recognized all their titles. Now I would have music in my cabin. Now it wouldn’t be so quiet in there all the time.

“Thank you,” I said to them.

“You’re welcome,” Julia said. “We’re so glad to have you here.”

“Especially me.” Lee scrambled to his feet and gave me a hug, tight and quick, before going back to his place at the hearth.

“Let’s listen,” Billy said. “I want to hear what it sounds like.”

“The needle’s new,” Liz told me. “The guy at the record store put it in for us.”

I had gotten used to the record player in the schoolhouse, so I knew what to do. I slipped the record out of its sleeve and set it onto the player. I lowered the needle, and the record began to spin. Music crackled out. Her voice surprised me—it was not the smooth, crooning sound I’d heard as a child. But the words and the melodies were the same. Once the first song played through and the second began, I got used to the way she sounded. And I thought it made sense that I’d be listening to a different voice now, a rougher one. I was glad for the difference. There was no going back. Never again would I sit next to Grammy at the piano, positioning my fingers as she had. Grandpa would never again turn up the volume. Never ask me to dance. All of that was over. This is what I had now. The sun was lowering in the sky, so Julia lit the fire and the flame’s crackle joined with the record’s, and soon the room filled with warmth.

I allowed myself to believe I was one of them, then. That the celebration made it official. The cake and the gifts. This afternoon together. I sank into the easy chair and listened to the songs I knew by heart sung in a new voice, and felt that I belonged. Mary Poppins ended and the little ones joined us, showing off their clay sculptures, begging for their slices of cake. Billy brought out plates for each of them and lined them up on the coffee table. He tucked their napkins into their shirts and they ate with determination. All of us were there, in the room together. All of us were listening to the record, and feeling the warmth, and I thought the moment was perfect. It was perfect.

Until a movement outside made me turn to the window. A quick flash and then—whack!

Emma screamed. “Oh my God, what was that?”