“Love isn’t a chair with only one seat.”

The words came out before he could plan them.

He thought of the empty dining chair where Margaret had once presided, and of how many decisions he had made simply to avoid disappointing her.

Later he called Clara, not to offer her employment, but to thank her for teaching him how to notice the small moments that make a child feel secure.

She listened and told him what she’d learned too: gratitude could be real even after forgiveness remained complicated.