Kanazawa, Japan: 7:15 am
"Mama, mama wake up!"
Rachel heard the voice before she felt it: a small, wiggly boulder landing squarely on top of her chest and crushing the air out of her lungs.
"Oof, Sera, please-" She wheezed, eyes flying open as a tiny foot wedged itself in between her ribs. "Gentle steps, honey."
"Sorry Mama!" The foot was yanked free from Rachel's ribcage, only for Sera to lose her balance seconds later and come crashing down on top of her mother, little arms hugging her tightly while the rest of her small frame wiggled with excitement. "Do you know what day it is, Mama? Guess what day it is!"
"Hmmmm…" Rachel pretended to think for a moment, sitting up and pulling her daughter into her lap. "I can't seem to recall…" she teased, finger-combing out the knots in Sera's fiery ginger hair. "But it must be a very important day, to have my princess this excited!"
"It is! It's my birthday!" Sera enthused, whining quietly as Rachel's fingers got caught in a knot. "I'm five years old today!"
"Of course! How could I forget?" Lifting Sera into her arms, Rachel stood and made her way to the kitchen. "Last year flew by so quickly… is it already time for another royal tea party, my lady?"
Every year on Sera's birthday, Rachel threw an extravagant European-inspired tea party for her daughter. At Sera's insistence, they both dressed up as princesses and spent the afternoon sipping tea and nibbling on Linzer Cookies while unwrapping the gifts Rachel picked out for her daughter. Every year she'd secretly invite the other moms and daughters from Sera's playgroup, but every year it ended up being just the two of them in their home, with Rachel waiting on a doorbell that never rang.
Sera had never seemed to mind just her mother's company… until this year.
"Mama?" Sera asked, dragging her step stool over to the cupboard to grab her plastic princess cup and bowl for breakfast. "Can Daddy come to my birthday party this year?"
"Daddy?" Rachel tried to keep the shock from her voice. This wasn't the first time Sera had asked about her father—going to preschool with all the other kids who bragged two parents had raised a lot of difficult questions—but she had never expressed such direct interest in meeting him before. "I don't know, princess. Daddy is working in America, remember? But we can FaceTime Auntie Soowon and Uncle Ben! You know they're so sad they couldn't make it this year."
"Yeah." Sera nodded halfheartedly, more interested in her mom placing her omelette into her bowl than listening after hearing her Daddy wouldn't be there.
"Auntie and Uncle still sent you a present!" Rachel tried to distract her with the large, opulently wrapped gift sitting in the hallway, uncomfortable with how quickly Sera's mood dampened. She's far too young for mood swings! "You can open it after school today!"
The distraction had its desired effect as Sera beamed, excitedly stuffing egg into her mouth. "This afternoon can't come soon enough!"