Their favorite toys could travel by choice, not necessity.

Parker was less verbal.

He sometimes asked whether Dad still loved us while putting on his shoes.

I answered simply that he was loved, and that the grown-ups were working out living arrangements.

When he grew frustrated, we practiced naming the feeling rather than blaming someone.

At night I read them a chapter of a book Eleanor had given Brielle.

There was a note inside the cover: A curious mind can find doors where other people see walls.