On one hot and breezy afternoon, we go to visit Candace as usual, and after a while, Kat does what she usually does and heads to the coolest corner of the patio to draw pictures.

A letter bearing a Texas postmark is resting in Candace’s lap; it has been there for the entirety of our visit. I can feel the weight of it between us. That letter is important or Candace would not have brought it out to the patio with her. Candace sees me looking at it and fingers the edges of the envelope.

“I’ve heard from my cousin Lucinda,” she says, her voice already sounding tired and weak even though we’ve only been with her an hour.

“Oh?”

“She’s the youngest daughter of my mother’s sister and a few years older than me. She lives in Texas. I wrote to her just after you arrived. Lucinda has invited Kat and me to come live with her and her husband and her two young sons.”

My heart starts to pound inside me and words of response can’t find their way to my tongue. When I say nothing, Candace continues.

“My father left the bulk of his estate to worthy causes. He disinherited me just like he said he would so that Martin would receive nothing when I die. But he left a substantial amount to this facility. I can stay here in Tucson for the next twenty years if I want to. But I don’t want to. And I don’t have twenty years. My condition is worsening. The doctor and nurses here have told me as much.”

Tears prick my eyes and I fight them back. “I’m sorry.” I am indeed truly sad for her, but I also don’t want her taking Kat to Texas. I don’t know if the tears are for me or for her.

“Lucinda says she and her husband are willing to raise Kat. If we went now, Kat would have a chance to get to know them before I . . . before I go.”

But even as these words sting, I sense a hesitancy in Candace’s voice.

“Is that what you want?” I ask, my voice sounding feeble in my ears.

Candace sighs and gazes at Kat on the other side of the patio. “I don’t know what I want, other than I want my Kitty Kat to be happy and cared for. Not just now but after I am gone.”

The tears I’m holding at bay begin to slip down my face because this is what I want most, too, for Kat to be happy and cared for, now and always. I must have taken leave of my senses to think I was the suitable choice to make it so. I am not her family. I am not even legally her stepmother. I am someone who has known her for less than two years. I am someone who answered an advertisement to marry a stranger. I am someone with a past that I never allow myself to revisit.