We said goodbye politely.

Driving home, I felt both happiness and grief.

Repair wasn’t a straight line.

It was a collection of choices, and I could make my own even when Daniel was still learning how to make his.

PART 14

A week after the library visit, Emma mailed me a drawing.

She had drawn our family around a bright yellow table beneath a Christmas tree.

There were seven people in the picture: herself, Oliver, her parents, me, and two figures she identified on the back as Claire’s parents.