Patel’s advice.

I told her yes, that all her feelings and memories belonged on her page if she wanted them there.

She drew a woman standing some distance from the tree.

She did not explain it.

I did not ask her to.

That was how our new life began: not with a grand speech, but with small decisions about doorways, homework, and where to hang a drawing that contained people whose relationship to us had become painfully complicated.

PART 11