I spent two weeks in the hospital, and my husband never came to see me — but when I finally returned home and opened the front door, I stood frozen in disbelief.

at school. I sat there with a cooling cup of coffee, staring at a chipped corner of the wood and thinking about my son the way mothers do when no one’s watching.

At seventeen Nathan was the gentlest person I knew. Quiet and shy, he read three books a week, fixed the neighbor’s printer for free, remembered birthdays, and avoided parties.