Brenda looked up, smiling, though it faltered slightly when she noticed the seriousness in his expression, something unfamiliar in its steadiness.
“I want to show you something,” he continued, reaching for his laptop, his movements slow, deliberate, leaving no space for interruption or dismissal.
There was a brief silence, the kind that stretches just long enough to become noticeable, to settle into the space between people like something alive.
He turned the screen toward her, pressing play without another word, and the room filled with the soft flicker of images from a time she had never witnessed.
At first, Brenda watched with mild curiosity, her posture relaxed, her expression neutral, as if expecting something simple, something easily explained.
But as the video unfolded, her smile faded, replaced by something uncertain, her eyes narrowing slightly as she tried to make sense of what she was seeing.
Lily in a hospital bed, Leo beside her, his small hand holding one of his curls, their voices soft, their promise quiet but unmistakably real.
