But it was made of exactly the same substance as the enormous promise he would make years later, the one that reordered his entire life around keeping her safe.

It was all one promise, really, extended and deepened over the years: I will not let you down.

Gabriel said it to my sister on a playground when they were nine, and he was still keeping it, word for word, in a hospital corridor two decades later.

That is who he was.

That is the whole story, if you want it in a sentence: a man who meant his promises, to a girl the world had decided did not deserve to have promises kept.

Chapter 4 — The Years Folded