But it was more than I had expected, and I have learned to take the growth people offer, even when it comes late, even from people who broke your trust, because refusing it costs my son more than it costs them.

And then there was Charlotte.

She asked, some weeks later, to see her grandson, and I agreed — but I insisted on being present, at a park, in the open.

She sat on a bench beside Theo while he ate an ice cream, and she took a breath, and she said, “Theo, Grandma wants to tell you she’s very sorry.” “For what?” he asked, blinking up at her.

“For asking you to keep that secret,” she said, and her eyes filled, and for the first time in all the years I had known her, the tears were real.