He told me he’d brought my trash bags of clothes to my parents’ porch and left them there in the middle of the night, and then he’d gone back the next night with the rest of my things. My books. My grandmother’s quilt. My favorite coffee mug with the chip on the handle. All of it washed and folded and packed in proper boxes.
I couldn’t stand the thought of your things sitting in garbage bags, he wrote. I couldn’t stand that I did that to you.
I read every letter. I didn’t answer any of them.
When Evelyn was three weeks old, I did something I hadn’t told anyone I was going to do.I ordered a DNA test.
I didn’t do it for Ben. I want to be really clear about that. Ben had already said he didn’t need it, and I believed him. Dr. Hale’s word was enough for him. The photograph of Copper Tom was enough for him. His own conscience was enough for him.
