Safeguards and clear boundaries could still protect the vulnerable.

Nathaniel had once insisted that his father’s opinion was the final word on every difficult question.

Hearing him accept a future his father disliked showed me that change was possible, even when it came slowly and after enormous loss.

PART 25: The Room With Three Beds

Before the girls were born, I painted their nursery on a borrowed weekend.

The room was small, with one narrow window overlooking a parking lot.

I chose pale green for the walls because I could not afford fancy wallpaper and because green reminded me that things continued growing even in unlikely places.