And our triplets, Brooklyn and Paisley and Naomi, were five years old, and they were crying together in the living room, because they could see their mother packing heavy suitcases and they could not understand why.

I can still see the whole scene, all these years later, with a clarity that has never faded and that I suspect never will.

“Laura, please, slow down,” I said to her at the front door, my voice low so the girls would not hear how frightened I was.

“Let’s just talk about this tonight, after they’re all asleep.

Please.” She did not stop packing her designer clothes.

She did not even look up.