She surfed back to Trina and Sophie’s Facebook pages and spent more time absorbing the images.

Upon further reflection, she did not feel that she’d been intended for a gown, veil, and groom. But she did feel—very strongly—that she was intended for a PhD. It had been her dream since Ms. Santiago, her second-grade teacher, had told her about the career paths open to academics.

If she’d gone home from the hospital with Trina and Jonathan, she might have been free to follow through on Princeton’s PhD offer. She might be teaching at a university right now. Writing papers, giving lectures, meeting with students.

Grief sent her bolting into the kitchen. She opened a can of mixed nuts and munched while her mind churned. With one hand, she scooped up more nuts, with the other, she slid her phone from her pocket and indulged in her guilty pleasure—browsing the digital album where she kept the dozens of pictures of Princeton she’d collected over the years.

She had so many pictures of the school, and had studied them all so carefully, that she probably knew the campus and the college’s history better than most of their incoming students.

She never could decide if these pictures were a healthy way to process her loss or an unhealthy fixation on her loss.

Both?

She could bear without too much difficulty the idea that she may have missed out on a wedding because she’d been switched at birth. But it was much harder to bear the idea that she could have missed out on the chance to further her education because she’d been switched at birth.

She still had every intention of furthering her education when Dylan left for college. She’d take as many courses as she could handle time-wise, while continuing to work, and money-wise, while contributing to Dylan’s tuition. Eventually, she’d achieve her PhD. She would. It’s just that, to get there, she’d have to climb a challenging uphill path. The prestigious, fully funded route of years ago was gone.

She shoveled more nuts into her mouth.

It was too soon to think about her doctoral work. Nearly a year remained until Dylan’s graduation. For now, her primary focus was to ensure that he made it to his freshman dorm room in one piece and well prepared for independence.

With God’s help, she and Dylan had come a long way together. With God’s help, they’d cross the remaining distance.

A snide voice within her sneered, He’s not even your brother.

“Yes he is,” she whispered to the empty room. The mighty ties of love and loyalty that bound her to him had not changed. The truest truth of her life was that she’d love Dylan always. Unconditionally.