She swept the floor and I swept the cobwebs out of the corners, and then—already—we heard a car on the drive. I looked over the room, wondered how I’d feel to find out it was mine. It was sweet and girlish, with hand-stitched quilts. Worn, not precious. I would have liked it, had I moved here when I was young.

I watched Julia straighten a picture frame, lay out a lace over the top of the dresser.

What do you know about Lee? I wanted to ask her. What happened to him last night?

But I couldn’t get the words out. The car doors were slamming shut. I heard the crunch of gravel, the front door open.

“Shall we greet your new students?” she asked, as though nothing were wrong. As though Lee weren’t closed up in his room, suffering from something terrible.

“I don’t know,” I said.

She cocked her head, perplexed, and I couldn’t tell if she was feigning her confusion.

“Lee . . . ,” I started, but didn’t finish. I wanted to curl up in one of the beds we’d just made. Wanted to sleep in this child’s room and wake up young and unafraid.

But Julia ushered me to the door and out. “He’ll be all right,” she said in the hallway. “He just needs to rest. And we need to head downstairs. Our girls are waiting.”

Diamond and Ruby were seated in the kitchen, their eyes wide, taking everything in. They were fair and chubby, with light brown wavy hair. Ruby wore a T-shirt with a unicorn on it, Diamond a pink-and-yellow-striped sweater.

I knew that one day they’d awaken to a breakfast tray to celebrate their birthdays. They’d outgrow their old clothes and start blending in with everyone else, in simple shirts and wool sweaters, soft corduroys and jeans. They’d play and laugh. But, for now, they were straddling two lives. I remembered what it was like, not even so long ago, first stepping foot into this one. Did they feel the same wonder I did? The same dizziness, the same tremor of something uncertain beneath?

Terry set mugs of hot chocolate in front of them. Ruby looked at Diamond and waited. Diamond took a sip, so Ruby did, too.

Julia sat at the table and had me slide in next to her.

“Girls,” she said. “We’re so happy to have you here, after all these months of waiting. This is Mila, she’ll be your teacher. And you have a classmate, Lee, who isn’t feeling well today, but will be up and eager to meet you tomorrow.”

The girls nodded.

I said, “Tell me what you like to do. What’s your favorite subject in school?”

“Math,” said Ruby.

“Art,” said Diamond.

“All right,” I said. “Good. We can do both of those things. I even know ways we can do them at the same time.”