“You are building a family connection,” she said.

“That does not mean rebuilding your marriage.

The two are different.”

I knew she was right.

The grief I felt was real, but it could not be used to pressure Hannah or the children.

I went for a long walk along the river and remembered something Hannah had told me years earlier: A plant cannot become healthy merely because you keep tugging at it to see whether the roots have grown.

I had laughed when she said it.