There never had been.

There was only Mark, and his choice, and the two of us he had left behind to make sense of it.

I have thought about how close Violet and I came to the other outcome — the one Mark foresaw and prevented — and about how much of the rest of both our lives hung on a single envelope.

If there had been no letter, I am fairly sure of how it would have gone.

Violet would have asked me to stop the donation.

I would have refused, because it was Mark’s wish and I had promised him.