Don't Tell Daddy Yet

The front garden of Ashford Lane had never looked like a place where a life could change.

It was a narrow strip of grass between a brick townhouse and a low hedge, with a cracked path down the middle and a blue inflatable pool that sagged at one corner because Edward had never learned how to fix the valve properly.

Poppy loved that pool before the accident.

She used to splash in it with muddy knees and a laugh so bright it made neighbors open curtains just to hear it. After the accident, she would only sit beside it and trail one hand through the water as if it belonged to another child.

Her cast was white, heavy, and always in the way. Her crutches clicked like questions across the hall. Some mornings she woke smiling, remembered, and went quiet before breakfast.

Edward had become careful around her in ways that made the house smaller.

He lowered his voice. He moved rugs. He took corners slowly. He congratulated every small movement until praise began to sound like pity, and Poppy noticed even when he tried to hide it.

That was why Theo Morgan was the only person she allowed in the garden that morning.

Theo lived two doors down with his aunt and a black-and-white cat that hated everyone except Poppy. He was seven, serious, and small enough that adults often forgot to lower their voices around him. Poppy did not forget him.

He had brought the crutches out first, dragging them gently over the grass like expensive instruments.

"The pool is softer than the floor," he said. "If your foot gets scared, the water will know first."

Poppy frowned. "Feet do not get scared."

"Mine do," Theo said. "Especially on school stairs."

That made her smile.

They worked for eleven minutes before Edward came through the gate. Poppy could count every one because she had promised herself she would stop after twelve. She was pale, sweating at the hairline, both little hands tight around the metal handles.

Theo knelt beside the pool rim, one knee dark with grass stain.

"Try one more time," he said. "I'll stay right here."

Poppy looked toward the house.