I could see that this was a larger question than I had realized.

A family tree had been pruned by my silence.

Relatives had lost the chance to know them, and they had lost the chance to decide what those relationships might mean.

My mother wept when I told her.

She also asked me why it had taken so long, and I offered no excuse.

When Marianne agreed, my mother sent the twins a handwritten letter introducing herself and describing the garden she kept.

She did not include gifts or demands.