Chapter 5

A porter wheeled me into an office designed to soften bad news: beige walls, rounded chairs, a watercolor of a harbor where no boat seemed in danger.

My wheelchair faced four chairs pulled into a shallow arc. Daniel sat closest to me. His mother occupied the center as if the arrangement had been cut to her measurements. Claire had stayed with Emma, which meant my daughter remained upstairs with the woman named as her new mother.

The junior notary sat at the far end with a legal pad balanced on one knee. He looked younger than the blue suit straining…