Joanna.

I gave the letter to Mara to send through counsel, since the legal matters weren’t fully closed.

My father never replied directly.

Instead, one afternoon Patricia called to say he had begun speaking with a counselor and a financial adviser.

I hoped it was true.

I also understood those choices belonged to him.

I would not make his recovery the next assignment of my life.

That evening I unpacked the last moving box I’d brought to Walter’s farmhouse.