My daughter-in-law always hid her hands and back—until a beach trip revealed the truth she had been carrying all along.

child hiding inside a sweater.

If a bracelet or watch shifted, she adjusted it at once.

If someone suggested the patio over the air-conditioned dining room, she smiled and agreed, but I could see the strain around her mouth by dessert.

“Lilian,” my sister Carol said one Sunday while we stood in my kitchen making potato salad, “if you stare at that girl continue reading …