And Lily, seeing that her father believed her, that his face had not filled with doubt, began, at last, to tell him the rest.

Chapter 4 — The Patience He Mistook

To understand the cold that was spreading through Marcus’s chest, you have to understand what Sarah had walked into, and how completely he had trusted her.

Marcus’s first wife, Hannah, had died four years earlier, after a rapid illness that took her from them in a matter of months.

And for a long time after, Marcus had lived exclusively for Lily.

Work, school drop-offs, simple dinners, bedtime stories, and the answering of questions no little girl should ever have to ask so young, about where her mother had gone, and whether she was cold, and whether she still loved her.