“She wrote back to me?” His voice came out barely above a breath.

“Every single time,” Carol said, and now she was crying openly.

“Every letter you ever sent her came through to us.

And she wrote back to every one.

But back then — we were told that limiting the contact would help her settle in faster, help her bond with us, help her feel like this was really her home.

So we held them.

We told ourselves we were doing what the experts said.”