As Hope’s procedure approached, the hospital became a place of little rituals.

Hannah bought tea from the same vending machine each morning and never drank more than half.

I brought clean clothes and snacks in a blue tote bag.

Lucas started arriving early enough to ask the care team what he could do, and he wrote the answers in a separate notebook so Hannah didn’t have to carry every detail.

One evening he phoned to ask whether I could come in.

“Hannah hasn’t slept,” he said.