The meetings became easier.

Chloe learned Camilla loved drawing, hated mushrooms, and knew how to braid hair.

Camilla learned Chloe despised socks with seams and insisted the moon looked brighter above water.

Their connection grew in small, unspectacular ways that were no less important for being quiet.

PART 15

The most difficult question arrived on an ordinary Tuesday while Chloe was working on a family-tree assignment.

Her teacher had offered alternative formats because not every child’s history could fit neatly into a drawing of two parents, four grandparents, and tidy arrows.