Piper loved maps and insisted on knowing which direction was north.

Quinn loved music and made up songs using whatever words she happened to know.

Neither needed to carry the story of my humiliation as a burden.

When they eventually asked why their parents lived in different homes, I would tell them in simple, truthful terms: Sometimes grown-ups cannot keep a marriage healthy.

That is never a child’s fault.

Both homes should be safe places.

They were loved from the beginning, and nothing about their birth had caused what happened.