I had lived my whole adult life in that shadow, and I might have lived my whole life in it, might have stayed the quiet, diminished daughter forever, fixing Caleb’s errors in secret and waiting for a recognition that was never coming.

What broke the pattern was not my own strength, though I had strength; I had not been able to use it on my own behalf.

What broke it was Noah.

Because the moment I knew he was coming, everything changed, and it changed for a reason I did not fully understand until I held him.

I could endure being diminished myself.

I had proven that, for twenty-eight years.