From a distance, she saw a little boy riding on a man's shoulders. The man ran with him through the square, and the boy was giggling happily.
Gordon had once asked her how he came into this world, and why all the other kids had dads, but he didn't.
Each time, Shay would say that in Serrania, there was a famous hero known as the Monkey King, who was born from a stone. Gordon, she'd say, was also born from a stone.
Gordon would always laugh good-naturedly whenever she said that, but she knew better than anyone else. 'As a child grows up, there are some things they'll eventually understand. Children from single-parent homes often have certain disadvantages, and I'm worried Gordon will suffer from them.'
But in the past five years, there had been very few men in her life. It wasn't that she hadn't considered finding a stepfather for Gordon, but she was terrified that a stepfather would treat him poorly and end up hurting him instead.
