“I don’t know whether I can forgive you today,” I told him.

“I don’t expect you to.”

“But I don’t want to walk back to her room alone.”

“Then you won’t.”

I stood and looked once more toward the hallway where the other family had gone.

Somewhere in that building, a young woman was waking up into a future that would still require courage.

Somewhere else, my daughter’s bed was empty.

I could hold both truths without asking one to cancel the other.