I said it was our daughter’s day and that the arrangements needed to be respected.

Elena sent a brief acknowledgment.

For a moment, I allowed myself to hope the box would remain closed.

PART 5 — The Man Who Raised Her

I woke before sunrise on the wedding day.

For a minute, I lay still and tried to remember whether there was anything I had forgotten.

The list arrived immediately: the envelope for one payment, a message to the driver, the jacket I had left downstairs, a phone charger, Chloe’s request that I arrive at a particular time rather than whenever worry brought me to the door.

I got up.