GS-At the Christmas celebration, I overheard my daughter-in-law proudl…

the future in her own favor.

“The coffee smells great, Martha,” she said.

Julian looked up quickly. Too quickly. His brown hair was rumpled, his face tired, his eyes avoiding mine. He had inherited Thomas’s jaw and my tendency to fold discomfort into silence. Lately, he used both badly.

I set the tray on the coffee table.

No one spoke for a moment. The continue reading …