Forgiveness, if it came, would not require me to reopen the marriage or pretend the past had been harmless.

Tommy pedaled over and asked whether his father wanted to race him to the bench.

Mark stood and pretended to stretch like an athlete.

“Ready?” Tommy shouted.

I watched them run across the courtyard, father and son laughing, and felt something inside me loosen.

It wasn’t the old family restored.

It was a new way for our son to be loved.

PART 25