From that first hour, I set about the long work of making certain that Lucas would never, at any level of his heart, believe that what happened to him was his fault, because it was not, and because a child who believes such a thing carries it into every room of the rest of his life.

Chapter 6 — Grandpa Didn’t

He was quiet for a moment, and then he began to cry, not loudly, but in the silent, shoulder-shaking way of a child who has learned somewhere that crying is not safe, that it must be done without sound.

And through those silent tears, he said the two words that would rearrange my entire understanding of the family I had married into.

“Grandpa didn’t.”