The world seemed to tilt a little under Mandy’s feet. For a long moment, all she could see was her son’s face, his ocean-blue eyes, so much like her own, waiting patiently for an answer. His simple question hung in the quiet space between them, bigger than the whole room.

For five whole years, she’d carried this very moment inside her. Through his first steps, first words, bedtime stories, and scraped knees… he had never once asked. And a tiny part of her had started hoping he never ...