A few days later, Paige wrote to Denise herself.

She thanked her for preserving the photograph, said she wanted it eventually, and asked for a few weeks before receiving any more materials.

Denise replied within minutes: Take all the time you need.

It was a small exchange, yet Paige kept rereading it.

Perhaps having a boundary respected felt as important as gaining a new relative.

That weekend we gathered the old family albums and started a project Paige suggested: one album for the history she had always known, another for the history she was learning, with blank pages between them for questions nobody could yet answer.

I asked whether she wanted me to write captions about her childhood.