Not refused.

Held, in the one position my family had never taught me, which was the position of a boundary that is also still a door.

Chapter 23 — On Her Own Terms

On Saturday morning Lily brought her birthday gift into the kitchen, still wrapped in the pale yellow paper, the purple ribbon she had saved from another present tied around it, and she asked whether she could open it even though Grandma and Grandpa had not been there.

Yes, sweetheart, I said.