“Can you stay the whole time?” I took her hand.

“Absolutely.”

A few days later, Camilla visited the aquarium before our scheduled meeting to find a quiet place where Chloe could retreat if overwhelmed.

She told Priya she wanted to memorize the exits and benches, not because she planned to run but because she wanted a child she’d never met to know she had choices.

When Priya told me this, I recognized something that had been absent from my parents’ decisions for years: respect for a little girl’s comfort.

PART 13