I had spent six months feeling sorry for her, gently managing her, and she had spent six months quietly, deliberately loving a stranger with her eyes wide open, asking nothing of him, offering everything.

I had thought I was the one bringing kindness into that room.

I understood now that I had been walking, twice a week, into the presence of the kindest person I would ever know, and mistaking her for someone who needed my help.

Chapter 10 — The Letter

With hands that shook so badly I could barely manage it, I broke the wax seal and drew out what was inside.

There were two things in that envelope.