“That’s not something a forged form can erase.”

Elaine later said those words had hurt and healed her at once.

Robert was dead, and whatever he knew could not be asked of him directly.

That was one of the hardest facts to accept.

I had spent years wishing I could speak to him one more time, to tell him about Wyatt’s graduation, his job, the way he had grown into a kind young man.

Now I had a thousand different questions, and silence was the only answer available.