I thought of Evelyn in her armchair with her rattling teacup, holding my hands, telling me to go to graduation just for her. She had not been sending me off to face the crowd alone.

She had known exactly what was waiting for me on that field.

She had spent the last of her strength, three weeks of it, building the bridge to the mainland with her own trembling hands — and then she had gotten me to walk out onto it, never letting me suspect a thing.

“She kept it a total secret,” I whispered.

“She looked me right in the eye this morning and she didn’t say one word.”