In the documented personal-property arrangement, Elliott chose to return it to me instead.

Marjorie gave it back sealed, along with the record of that choice.

I did not open it.

There was no need for another debate about what it meant before I took the boys to school.

Its ownership had been addressed.

What I felt about it could wait.

I gathered his remaining belongings in a small box: shirts, a watch, the framed photograph from his college apartment, and his chipped coffee mug.

We arranged an exchange at the lobby of the building where he was staying with his parents.