Summary:

Ilya’s first Christmas at home *** Yuna smiles at him, the corners of her mouth tightening with some emotion he can’t fully understand. “We just wanted you to feel at home.” Ilya looks down. His nose burns, the ribbons wrapped around the green paper swimming together in a red haze as his eyes inexplicably fill with tears. Squeezing the box so hard the paper wrinkles, tearing at the top where his thumb presses against it, he takes a deep breath, trying to find the words to explain how he wouldn’t know what that felt like. Not before Shane anyway.