When the counselor relayed it, Marisela was quiet for a while.

Then she said the only thing there was to say, and she said it without bitterness, because bitterness would have cost her something and bought her nothing.

“I believe him.

I think that’s exactly what happened, and I think it took real courage to say it out loud in that room.” She paused.

“But understanding why a person did a thing does not erase the thing.

He can be right about all of it and I can still be right to leave.