“I understand now it was the opposite.”

I didn’t tell her that everything was all right.

Too many adults had offered the boys that empty comfort.

Instead, I asked about her plans.

She wanted to learn watercolor painting, visit the lighthouse in winter, and sleep without listening for the service bell.

Before she left, she gave me Madeline’s recipe for apple cake.

“She told me once that if anything happened to her, I should make this for the boys on their birthdays.

I couldn’t bear to do it these last few years.