The years in between were brutal. Rehab. Braille labels. Learning which cabinets held plates and which held canned soup. Learning not to flinch every time Nora misjudged a doorway. Learning how to sound calm when she asked, “Do you think I’ll ever stop being angry?”
They searched for days. Divers. Boats. Floodlights. They never found his body. In the end, the police told me the current had probably carried him farther than anyone could reach. So I was left with no funeral, no grave, no last look. Just paperwork and water.
Nora was 11 then.
She turned 18 this spring.
Then Scout came into our lives.
Yesterday was Nora’s graduation.