I want to be careful not to tidy it.

Fergus grieved twice that year: once for the mother he’d thought he had, and once for the simple, uncomplicated origin story every person assumes is theirs until someone takes it away.

There were weeks he could barely speak.

But he came out the far side of it steadier than I had ever known him, because for the first time in his life the ground under his feet was true, and true ground holds even when it’s hard.

A year later the court awarded me full restitution for the stolen Beacon Hill property.