I repeated the children’s names when someone asked me to confirm them.

I could say the names.

I could not yet understand the sentence they were part of.

There would eventually be investigators, insurers, lawyers, and reports.

That night, nobody could give me an answer that made the loss smaller.

Margaret stayed until we had a plan for leaving the hospital.

She did not ask whether I preferred to be alone because she could see I could not yet make every choice.

She asked which person I wanted to contact next, and she helped make the call.