Selena placed it on her bookshelf without comment.

I did not tell her how to feel about it.

For years I had imagined a stable family as a house where everyone stayed together no matter what.

I now understood stability differently.

It was people following through, money being accounted for, adults owning their decisions, and a child knowing she could speak without being punished.

Our little rental home, with its patched faucet and mismatched furniture, had more of that stability than the larger house ever did.

PART 24