I have never gotten over the grace of that note, and I do not expect to.

Think about what it required of her.

My mother knew, with the clear eyes of a person facing her own death, that there was a real chance her secret would come out badly — that I would stumble onto the truth in some terrible way and be shattered by guilt.

She could not prevent that; she was too honest to believe she could control everything.

So she did the only thing left to her: she reached forward in time, past her own death if necessary, to catch me.