Chapter 7
Lily turned five in the middle of March,
and she approached her birthday with the strategic planning of a military campaign.
She had drafted a guest list in purple crayon,
and she had requested a cake that looked like a space station,
and she demanded that all attendees wear something yellow.
Adrian took the day off work to prepare the apartment,
and he spent three hours trying to assemble a complicated balloon arch,
which collapsed twice before he finally secured it to the wall.
Naomi baked the cake from scratch,
and she cursed quietly when the frosting refused to set,
but she managed to construct a highly impressive,
edible spacecraft.
The party was a loud,
chaotic blur of sugar and wrapping paper,
and the apartment was filled with twenty screaming children.
Adrian found himself acting as a referee for a game of musical chairs,
and he mediated a serious dispute over a plastic ring,
and he realized he was actually having a wonderful time.
He watched Lily blowing out her candles,
her face illuminated by the tiny flames,
and he felt a profound wave of gratitude wash over him.
He had missed her first four birthdays,
and that was a loss he would always carry with him,
but he was here now,
and he would never miss another one.
After the last guest had finally gone home,
and the apartment was littered with torn paper and crumbs,
they sat in the living room among the wreckage.
Lily was sitting on the floor,
and she was playing with a new set of building blocks,
while Cloud supervised from a safe distance on the sofa.
Adrian sat on the floor next to her,
and he helped her build a tall tower,
and he asked her if she had a good birthday.
She nodded vigorously,
and she said it was the best day ever,
and then she looked at him with her large,
serious eyes.
She asked him why he and her mother didn't have the same last name,
and the question caught him completely off guard,
hanging in the quiet air of the living room.
Naomi froze where she was picking up plates,
and she looked at Adrian,
waiting to see how he would handle the sudden interrogation.
Adrian took a deep breath,
and he told Lily that names were just words,
but the love they shared was the thing that made them a family.
Lily considered this for a moment,
and she placed a red block on top of the tower,
and she said that it would be easier if they all matched.
She said it in a very practical tone,
as if she were suggesting a solution to a minor logistical problem,
and then she went back to her building.
Adrian looked up at Naomi,
and he smiled,
and he knew that the timing could not be more perfect.
He had been carrying a small velvet box in his pocket for a week,
and he had been waiting for the exact right moment,
and his daughter had just accidentally set the stage.
He stood up,
and he walked over to Naomi,
and he took the plates out of her hands,
and he set them down on the coffee table.
He looked deeply into her eyes,
May you like
and he felt his heart hammering against his ribs,
and the entire world seemed to slow down to a crawl.
