Voices calling for a cloth, someone walking carefully with a baby, a bag left beside a chair because its owner intended to use it again.

I wanted them all to stay.

I also knew they had their own apartment, and Maya needed rest in a place arranged for the girls.

I could not make this homecoming safer by refusing to let my son walk out of the door.

When they prepared to leave, I asked for a contact number I could reach directly.

Julian wrote it down and called my phone while standing in front of me.

I saved it under his name.