But it was wrong in the way that only love can be wrong, and standing there watching him turn a page with his failing hand for a laughing bald little boy, I could not find it in myself to be angry.

I could only find it in myself to go to him.

I want to sit for a moment with that word, wrong, because it matters and because I have thought about it a great deal.

What Marcus did was wrong; I have never pretended otherwise, and I did not pretend it to him.

He made a decision that was his alone to make about a burden that belonged to both of us, and in making it he took from me six months I can never get back, six months I would have given anything to spend at his side instead of in the dark.

A person does not have the right to grieve you in advance and on your behalf and call it protection.