Beside the silver frame that held Caroline’s photograph, there was a quiet six-inch space on the dark slate mantel.

He set the yellow crane drawing on the slate shelf right next to Caroline’s picture, lining up the edge of the wooden frame with the stone border.

Caroline smiled out from her photograph in the soft light of the brass reading lamp.

Beside her, the yellow crayon crane held its paper house firmly against the white background.

Martha stood in the wide archway to the hall, her hands deep in her canvas coat pockets.

“There’s room on this mantel for the past and the present, Nathaniel,” Martha said.