Sophia told him not to tease, but Noah was smiling too.

“I’m not writing it to make him feel bad,” Noah said.

“I’m writing it for us.”

He folded the new card and asked me to keep it in the document case, beside the papers that had taken us eight years to collect and only a few months to understand.

I placed it there carefully.

That evening, the children helped me set the table.

Olivia’s silver star hung near the kitchen window.