Margaret answered that one honestly, because she had been asked directly, and she said that her father had decided on cremation, and she explained what that meant in plain words, and Sophie listened and thought about it and said nothing at all.

Margaret has thought about that silence for seven years.

She had spent the previous two nights at Margaret’s, at Nathan’s suggestion, which was the only decision he made that week that Margaret has never had a bad thought about.

He said he couldn’t do bedtime.

That was probably true.

Sophie had not cried much.