And she began to read.

Chapter 17 — She Had Wanted to Undo It

Violet read every page.

Without speaking, without looking up, without any sound but the turning of the paper.

When she finished, she pressed the pages against her chest, exactly as I had, and she closed her eyes, and for a long time she simply stood there, holding her son’s words against her heart, saying nothing at all.

I did not interrupt her.