But it was the pity you feel for someone who has destroyed something precious and doesn’t yet understand it’s gone.

Chapter 19 — You Just Didn’t Deserve Him

“He was always your son, Nicolas,” I said quietly.

“You just didn’t deserve him.”

The words came out without heat, which surprised me, because I had expected — if I ever got to say something like this — that it would come out as a blow.

But it wasn’t a blow.