She replied with three lines about how proud she was, and for once did not ask for anything in return.

Zachary didn’t write.

Nobody forced him.

A family relationship could be offered without becoming a debt.

That was something Eleanor was learning as slowly as her son.

<strong>PART 13</strong>

In early spring, a rumor reached the boys’ school.

Somebody had posted on a local parents’ forum that the Campbell twins had received “special consideration” because their estranged father was a donor to the statewide competition.