Never

"Never," I say.

"Never?" she asks, wiping the tears from her eyes.

"Never," I reply, bending double to look her in the eyes. "I will never leave you, love."

She smiles and saunters off across the playground. I sit back down upon the bench. Her fear when she couldn't find me was visceral. The same as mine would have been, had she been the one out of sight.

I will never leave you.

The things we say to our children. The promises we make, knowing they cannot be kept. Knowing they are no less true, when broken.

She holds my heart in the palm of her hand.

Never could I, ever, leave you.