I only insist that whatever relationship they have with him be built on the truth, because the truth is the one thing that whole family never gave them, and it is the thing I have promised they will always have from me.

The year in between was not simple.

I won’t pretend the three of us walked off that pier healed.

Sofia had bad nights for months, and questions I had to answer carefully — whether it was her fault, whether Mommy was mad at her, whether the family she’d drawn birthday cards for hated her.

We found a good counselor, a kind woman who let my kids say hard things in a room where nothing they said would be swept under.

Cruz grew quiet for a while, older than nine in a way that ached to watch, carrying a protectiveness over his sister that no child should have to carry.