For years he had assumed that an invitation to return to his world would be the most valuable gift he could offer.

Now he accepted that I had built a world of my own, and that the children could know both parents without my surrendering it.

I had once worried that this would leave the girls with an incomplete family.

Over time I learned that a family is not made complete by forcing two people to share a home that no longer suits them.

It is made steadier by adults who keep their promises and treat each other with respect.