“He told you he never wanted the family?” I asked.

“He said he’d felt trapped by decisions that weren’t his.”

I looked at the invitation.

Daniel could leave the marriage.

He could describe unhappiness that I had not fully understood.

But he had also chosen to become father to seven sons, and the stories of those years contained more than endurance.

Claire said she understood him.

I did not argue with her over a coffee cup.