Wyatt wanted to know if there would be cookies.

Mason said he would decide whether he liked her after he met her, not before.

I wished I had understood relationships that clearly at his age.

When the boys were 9, Mason found some old photographs.

“Does Dad have a mom?”

Lauren and I looked at each other.

The time had come.

We explained a version suited to their age: their grandmother had made wrong decisions, believing she was protecting her family, and those decisions had kept their parents apart for years.