“None of those costs make my sons burdens.”

Marjorie kept her hand beside her copy.

I read farther.

The words at the end stayed with me after I folded the page.

They were not an agreement that could force Daniel to keep a marriage or preserve an old feeling.

They were his account of himself, written before he began telling another one.

Elliot asked whether he could include a copy.

“The original stays here,” I said.