He nodded, accepting that a long-awaited reunion might begin with careful letters rather than a sudden embrace.

I wondered if he’d learned that from me or if he simply understood how much patience family could require.

A month later, Grace agreed to a video call.

Anna joined us.

The three of us spent nearly an hour stumbling through names, places, and memories, sometimes laughing and sometimes going quiet.

Grace showed us a photograph of her garden.

Anna held up the old picture from our childhood.

I showed them the red toy truck I’d drawn from memory years earlier in a notebook.