I have wondered, sometimes, whether he would have chosen it differently if he could, whether he would rather have died in ignorance, believing to the end that his family loved him, than have survived to know the truth.

I never asked him.

It felt too cruel a question.

But I think, in the end, he was glad to know, however much it hurt, because a man cannot build the rest of his life on a comfortable lie, and Raymond, once he came back from that bed, was determined to build the rest of his life on something true.

The knowledge cost him the sweetness of his illusions about Christopher.