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"Paige, hi," she says, sounding genuinely happy to see "

"I know," I say "That’s why I’ There’s just sothe cans of paint roll out, the pillows unfurl, and the scraps of material and rollers and brushes fall loose

"He wanted to fix up Leah’s roohton one side of the blanket from her that’s now stretched out like a do-it-yourself picnic between the two of us When I glance up, I fully take her in for the first tiraze over the supplies I’ve brought into the house

"I’ll do it all I didn’t want to make any work for you," I start, but she jumps in

"I wanna help," she says, her lips in a soft line, the s one end of the blanket while I take the other, we both walk everything up the stairs, opening the door to Leah’s roo her Leah’s surrounded by stuffed aniht table, I see her favorite cartoon

"Paige!" she squeals, running toa leap off of the end of her bed Her force intoher just as hard as she e the top of her head This is the first tilance up at Joyce again, and her s

"I hear you want a new room?" I ask She runs back to her bed and stands on the end of it, bobbing on her toes, her tiny body teey

"I do!" she says, clapping

"Well, how about we et it all done before your dad co the aned up for As creative as I a it part of design But I know I’ll have to embrace it one day, and I can’t think of a better way to start

Without pause, we all juhtfully giving Leah directions to do setting in our way We work for two straight hours, painting her walls swirls of white and pink, and I spend another hour drawing a castle on the wall behind her bed hatever paint is left Exhausted, Joyce and I finally lean against either side of her doorfra in her new surroundings

"Do you love it?" I ask I probably should have waited for her to say it on her own, but I’rins--but then bites her lip There’s so her request is so…that maybe I could live in the tower," she says

I look to Joyce, a little breathless Leah wants to live in my fairytale--the one I made up just for her--and it makes my heart feel happier than it has in months That, coh enough that my eyes water

"She wants a tower," I say

Joyce is shaking her head; I thinkme to find a way to divert Leah But I won’t let her down If she wants a tower, I’ll find her one

Sucking in s left in the hall that we pulled out of her rooold

"I need some material Lots and lots of it," I say to Joyce She nods, then heads out into the hall, into the linen closet where she begins pulling down bags of old sheets and other things I rush downstairs into the garage and search through a few bins I re a bundle of rope and a few hooks left over fro up forI have it figured out, but quickly pause, noticing Joyce sitting on the floor, a pile of strips of material, all different colors, layered in her lap Her eyes are glistening, and her lips are barely parted, her breath heavy

"These were Beth’s," she says in a giant exhale, looking atall at once "She wanted to nancy just cutting these strips, and she had planned on ot to sew a stitch"