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like to touch his hair. She’s a part of him. Just because she’s not my blood doesn’t mean she isn’t part of me.
    “Haven, what do the letters from daddy say?”
    My anger spikes when I realize she said letters from daddy. A sixth sense tells me that Grace is behind this.
    “Um . . . well that he is working hard at being a hero, but he loves me and he’ll be home soon.”
    I close my eyes, and I feel the working muscles in my body tighten with aggravation.
    I know I’m lying to Haven—we all are, but Grace has gone too far. What was she thinking? Why wouldn’t she discuss this with Jocelyn? Doesn’t she know how smart Haven is, and eventually she would have asked Jocelyn why there aren’t any letters from Mack during her weeks with Haven? I swear that woman has no brain.
    The sun is beginning to go down, and I should call my dad to come and get us. I release Haven and go into my bag to get my phone.
    “It’s getting late. We’ve been here all day, so I’m going to call Uncle Steve to come get us.” As I dial the phone Haven grabs my hand to stop me.
    “Rinny. I . . . um . . . I have something I want to talk to you about. Can I . . .”
    “Sure, sweetie. What’s up?” A serious look comes upon her face, and it scares me a little.
    “Last night before I went to sleep I went into the bathroom to pee and I . . .”
    “What, Haven? You what?”
    “I saw blood down there. On my underwear.”
    Holy shit.
    I swallow and calm my breathing because I’m about to hyperventilate.
    “And then what? Did you tell your grandma?”
    Haven bites her lip and a blush appears on her face, clearly embarrassed, I diffuse that.
    “You didn’t tell her.” She shakes her head no. “Was it a lot of blood?” She shakes her head again no.
    “Okay, well that’s good. Is it still happening?” She starts to cry again and nods.
    “What are you doing to stop it?”
    Sniffling back her sobs she tells me, “Socks.”
    Holding back my giggle at her confession. “Socks? You have socks in your underwear?”
    She nods and falls back on the blanket.
    How could none of us prepare her for this? The child is almost eleven. We’ve been so wrapped up in everything else to realize that this child was growing up.
    Damn you, Mack. You had to go, didn’t you? You should be here for this. Your child is now a woman. You missed this.
    I reach for my phone again and call my dad, telling him we were ready to come home and to let Jocelyn know to have a tub ready for Haven.
    I lean over her and smooth some unruly curls from her face.
    “Hey, listen. This is perfectly normal. Don’t be afraid. We’re going to go back to Nana’s and I’ll explain everything then. Uncle Steve is coming to get us now.”
    I cup her cheek and she leans into the palm of my hand. She is the mirror image of Mack. Sometimes I still can’t believe she’s his.
    I text my mom quickly.
    Mom—Haven got her period. She just told me. Please go run some of my stuff over to Jocelyn’s. She has no idea what is happening and I need to explain it all to her.
    As I gather up our gear, putting our lunch and snack trash in a bag, my phone dings and I look at the screen to see it’s my mom.
    Oh boy, I’m on it. See you in a few.
    I hear my dad's car pull up behind us. When he gets out and reaches our spot, he greets us with all smiles but notices something is off with Haven.
    He crouches down to meet her face. “What’s wrong, honey bear?” Shaking my head and mouthing the word ‘no’, I motion to my dad to close his mouth. He looks at me confused but just shrugs and walks over to me. He grabs my one hand and one of my elbows. He hoists me up and off the blanket. It takes a try or two, but I’m up. Haven narrows her eyes at us.
    “Uncle Steve, why do you have to help Rinny up like that?”
    I look to my dad and his eyes meet mine not knowing how to answer her question.
    The liar in me answers her.
    “Oh, I hurt my knee the other day, and I’m having a bit of