And it would have been a good version.

It would have had true things in it.

It would have had his grief in it, which is real, and it would have had the word protect in it, and by breakfast I would have been the one apologizing for the shouting.

And every single thing I found out afterward would have arrived pre-explained.

That is the thing.

Once a person has given you a version, you cannot un-receive it.

Everything you learn afterward gets sorted into it, and the version survives almost anything, because it got there first.