“I remember a Deepa Khanna from Delhi. But Deepa and Amir didn’t have children. My brother died at age sixteen, a few weeks after we moved to Lahore.”

A weight crushed Shan’s chest. “I’m so sorry to hear that. I didn’t know he’d passed away.” Her grandfather had been dead for seventy years. He had already been dead for decades when her father began looking for him in India. Here she was, searching for a man she hoped would be in his eighties, and yet, he’d never made it out of childhood. “But Amir is my grandfather. Deepa became pregnant with his son, my father Vijay, right before your family left for Lahore.”

Laila shook her head. “How can that be?”

“Let me show you something.” Shan reached into her bag and took out the origami crane that Deepa had given her in Amsterdam. “Does this mean anything to you?”

Laila brought it close to her face and gasped. “This is Amir’s handwriting!”

“Amir promised Deepa he would return for her after taking you to Lahore,” Shan said. “But after her parents were killed, she was forced to move to London. She wanted to wait for Amir. But she had no choice.”

Tears sprung to Laila’s eyes. “Oh, my child, he tried to go back to her! A few weeks after we reached Lahore, he secretly boarded the train back to Delhi. When my father discovered his plans, it was too late. The train had already left the station.”

“What happened?”

Laila removed a tissue from her purse, patted her eyes. “They call them ghost trains. Shortly before they crossed the border, either to or from India, the conductors, who had been bribed, would stop them, jump out, and run away. Before the passengeres realized what was happening, a mob would descend upon them. Amir’s train was attacked like this. He didn’t survive. I don’t think anyone on his train did.”

“Oh, no,” Shan said.

“That day was the worst of my life,” Laila said. “For a long time, I was so angry at him for leaving me. But then I realized that that was who Amir was. He would never break a promise he had made. Is Deepa still alive?”

“She lives in Amsterdam. I didn’t tell her about this trip. I wanted to be certain that I had found you first.”

“I still have the very last note he made for her,” Laila said. “I kept it all this time. It was my inspiration for this show. I was supposed to mail it to her, but after Amir’s death, I lost Deepa’s Delhi address. I was just so young too.”