I stared at it for ten minutes.

I had spent years believing he had received the truth and rejected his daughter.

Now I faced the possibility that he had never been given the chance to reject or accept her at all.

It did not erase what happened in our marriage.

But it changed the shape of the silence.

PART 12: The Woman at the Café

Margaret Hale requested a meeting with me.

When Miriam advised against a private conversation, I agreed to meet only with counsel present, at a neutral office.