I laid the stainless steel ladle back on the stove and touched his shoulder.

“We’re completely safe, Bennett,” I said.

“Nobody is ever going to take our home away again.”

He picked up his spoon and ate his soup without another question.

I did the dinner plates at the sink while Bennett stacked his wooden blocks in the corner of the dining room.

By nine o’clock Bennett was sound asleep in bed, his little wooden reading lamp glowing softly through the doorway.

I sat down at the oak rolltop desk in the corner of the living room under the brass lamp.