“Lily,” I said, and I took her face in both my hands.

“Telling me was the bravest, most right thing anyone in this whole family did.

I will be grateful for it every day of my life.

Chapter 24 — Uncle Jim at the Kitchen Door

Six months after the airport, the spring sun came pouring through the kitchen windows of the new house one ordinary afternoon, and there was a soft knock at the kitchen door, and my brother let himself in carrying a bag of groceries and a box of strawberry popsicles.

“Uncle Jim!” Lily shrieked, and launched herself across the hardwood floor to wrap her arms around his knees.