One important thing she and Keith did manage to instill in their daughter was a core of strength. Only a strong person would be able to endure everything they’ve learned Karina has endured—the terrible things that happened to her, those she did to herself, and the ones she’s been carrying in her mind. Now, when Karina feels the desire to inflict pain on herself, she talks about it with one of them: Jaya, Keith, her friends or the therapist. And now, Jaya is equipped to support her daughter. She has been given another chance to be the mother Karina needs at this crossroads.

Life is wondrous that way. It has been a test of Jaya’s spiritual beliefs to integrate them with the world she and Keith must help their daughter navigate. It is possible, though not easy, to balance the challenges of a worldly life with divine truth. Sometimes her mind alights on how things might have been different, for Karina, or in Jaya’s relationship with Keith, had she attained this equilibrium earlier in life. But she cannot serve her daughter now by dwelling in the past. It is enough to know that, together, they have now closed the chapter of their family crisis that began with the loss of one child and ends with the healing of another.

“Hey, Ginger.” Jaya bends down to pet their newest family member, a golden-brown beagle mix, who bounds off to dig for some unknown treasure in the corner of the yard. Jaya smiles as she sees the hummingbird return to Karina, perching on the flowering branch near her. Karina holds out a finger, encouraging the small creature to land on it. Jaya sees Prem everywhere these days, especially in his sister.

* * *

Through the kitchen window, Keith watches Karina and Jaya as they work in the backyard. He feels an unfamiliar pride every time he looks at those raised beds, constructed from six-foot-long solid cedar beams, completely parallel and level, with netting in the bottom to keep out the pests. They are the first things he’s ever built completely with his own hands, and they give him a strange sense of accomplishment. He has already begun his next project: a dog house for Ginger—more of a canine cabana—which his father, who insisted on housing their dogs in the garage, would think ridiculous.

The past year has not been easy. Learning about all that Karina suffered has been nearly unbearable. But Jaya surprised him. She has been stronger than he would have thought—stronger than him, for certain. After Prem died, Keith tried so hard to carry their family and failed. Now he feels, above all, like he is not alone in this crisis. He follows Jaya’s lead these days, because she seems to know how to respond to Karina when he is not sure.

He has taken on the responsibility of staying on top of the situation in Santa Barbara, communicating with the police and the district attorney’s office about the case. There won’t be a trial after all, since the defendant (Micah, as Karina still refers to him), tied a trash bag around his neck to hang himself in his cell after being arrested. At first, Keith felt cheated by that: losing the opportunity to see the bastard suffer and pay for his crimes. But Jaya has been helping him let go of his anger, and now he can see it’s all best for Karina, enabling her to move forward without the repeated trauma of testifying.