She had become their mother, he realized, startled. Their mother, not their babysitter or stepmother, and she would fight for them like a lioness. For her, they would always come first. This was a blessing, he thought, his sense of its rightness and goodness dissolving his anger. I should thank God for that, not resent it. It was one of the reasons I fell in love with her.

He went to his children’s bedroom, quietly opening the door. Mordechai Shalom was fast asleep, his breathing even and deep. Tears still stained his beautiful round cheeks, Yaakov saw, stabbed with remorse.

“Tateh?” a little voice called out to him in the darkness.

He sat down beside his little girl, tenderly gathering her in his arms. Because she was so smart and so funny, it was so easy to forget how really young she still was. Her bones were like a little kitten’s, her body still rimmed with baby fat. A little girl, a sweet, small girl. How he loved her! He kissed her cheek and laid her down again. “You said your shma?”

“Yes, Tateh. I didn’t forget. I was crying, but I think HaShem understood anyway.”

He smoothed her hair off her delicate forehead.

“Tateh?”

“Hmm?”

“Did you and Mommy eat all the chocolates?”

“We didn’t eat not even one,” he admitted, and was rewarded with a sleepy smile.

“You could have one. One each,” she added generously, yawning and turning over.

“That’s very kind of you, Icy,” he whispered, tucking her in. “Now go to sleep.”

He closed the door carefully behind him, then leaned against it, breathing deeply.

Next, he opened the door to Shaindele’s bedroom. He put on the light, looking around the room. There was her desk, piled high with her schoolbooks; the Code of Jewish Law, the second volume of the Five Books of Moses, with commentaries, the prophet Isaiah, a book of English grammar, and a workbook for algebra. Her notebooks lay open, sharpened pencils in holders stood up straight and ready. A Shabbos dress that had been carefully ironed was hanging on the closet door. A cork bulletin board held a printout of her weekly class schedule and some photos of herself and her friends and cousins at various weddings. And there was a framed wedding photo of himself and Leah smiling into the camera. After everything, all the turmoil, she kept a picture of Leah in her room!