Excerpt:

When Dakota was born, all I wanted was a little brother. I had been an only child for almost eleven years and I wanted someone to play with Legos and those little racecars with. When I was told it was a girl, not a boy, I refused to see her... for about ten minutes, anyway. Then I gave in and went in to the hospital room where my mother and new sister were, and the minute they let me hold Dakota, I was completely taken with her. She had the biggest, dark brown eyes, and just a little bit of light brown hair. The amazing thing to me was that her eyes were already wide open, after only an hour or so. And when I held her and said her name, she smiled at me.

“Is Dad going to be okay?” she asks me, as she colors the fur of a lioness orange. She is always very careful to stay in the lines. She isn’t looking at my face, so I know she does not see my expression.

I don’t answer for a moment. “Dakota, can you remember the last time that dad was in the hospital?” It was almost five years ago. She was only three.

“No.” She shakes her head and looks up at me, and I see those very same brown eyes. “What happened then?”

I look at her, at her hand clasped around the orange crayon, having finished the perfect orange lion, and I lie.

“I’m sure that Dad’s going to be fine.”