*Isla*

Back in my room, I sit on the bed and admire the cufflinks I’ve purchased for Maddox… with his own money… while Poppy is off fetching Mrs. Dixon.

I need to figure out what to do with them. I don’t want to leave them lying around, but I’m not sure that locking them up will do any good either, not when there’s someone like Mrs. Dixon around.

I remember something my mom did with my father’s birthday present a few years ago. She had pinched and scraped and waved every penny she could find for months in order to buy him a new baseball glove so that he could...