“Well, what a pleasure it’s been, Sam.” She shakes her head. “I’d heard all about you over the years—your grandfather was so terribly proud of you, you know—but I never really thought I’d get to meet you. I’m so glad I did.”

Sam nods.

“So will you come see us in Westchester next time?”

Lorna hesitates. I feel some slight question in the half-glance she casts at Abigail then, as if to say, just tell the child. Or maybe that’s just me.

“I…I don’t think that’s likely to work out, Sam. But perhaps you’ll be able to come back here one of these days.”

“Okay.” Sam frowns.

“Meanwhile, I thought you might like to have these,” Lorna says, and takes a small stack of books from the coffee table where she’s obviously left them ready for him. They’re a gold-embossed hardcover set. Handsome-looking books.

“It’s the Lord of the Rings trilogy,” she says, handing him a bag to put them in. “My old set that your grandfather gave me. Maybe you’ll enjoy them.”

Sam looks flustered but his eyes spark with pleasure.

“Thank you.”

Lorna turns her eyes on me then.

“And you too, Gillian, it’s been a pleasure meeting you. I always wanted a sister, growing up. I’m so glad Abigail has you.”

I glance at Abigail. I wonder if Lorna understands what it’s been like for me and Abigail; that we’ve probably never been the kind of sisters to each other that people dream of having. But I suppose, even so, we are sisters. We may not be a model of sisterhood, but we made it this far.

“Thank you,” I say—like Sam, it seems like I’m a bit lost for words right now. I have a flash of what Abigail means, and how it must feel for her, trying to square this circle: how the woman in front of us is still basically a stranger, and yet the most important stranger she’ll ever meet. Of course my sister’s week of visits hasn’t made Lorna feel like a second mother, how could it?

You can’t fill in a past you didn’t have, you can only imagine it. And what is imagining but a question that can’t be answered?

I think about how my family will never look clear or simple to me again. We’ve lost simplicity; we’ve gained truth. I guess the world is always showing us that it’s more complicated than we thought.

“I—I’d like a little time alone with Lorna, Sam,” Abigail says then, turning around. “To say my own goodbyes. Is that okay?”

Sam frowns, glancing between the two of them, then at me.

“Sure…”