I said I don’t know, and I took his hand, because sometimes the most loving thing you can offer a person is not a comforting lie but your willingness to walk toward the frightening answer beside them.

I did not have an answer for that one.

I could not promise him she remembered.

So I did not try.

I just took his hand and squeezed it, hard, and we walked up to the porch together.

Carol and Dennis met us in their living room.

Carol was visibly nervous, her hands never quite still.

Dennis could barely bring himself to look at Silas at all, his eyes fixed on the carpet with the particular posture of a man carrying a shame he has not yet set down.