“She spent entire school holidays there,” Helen said.

“Thomas wanted her to understand that every machine had people behind it.”

I studied the photograph.

The teenager looking back at me wore the same determined expression I recognized from Meredith’s boardroom presentation.

Helen asked me to explain why I had believed the original marriage arrangement could never become love.

It was a more difficult question than I expected.

I told her about growing up with a father who expressed affection by paying for opportunities and a mother who rarely disagreed with him in public.

I had assumed that providing enough comfort meant I was doing my part.