You protected people by arranging their choices before they were allowed to make them.

I could now see how often I had repeated that pattern with Savannah.

The following morning, Clara arrived with an attorney and a box of files.

We met in a neutral conference room, not at Savannah’s home.

Savannah and Lucas attended with their own counsel.

Raymond stayed outside at my request.

Clara was older than I remembered, her hair almost entirely silver.

She laid seven letters in dated order beside two medical notices and an attorney’s letter.