“Because you wake up at three in the morning and you think I’m asleep,” he said. “Because you pin his photograph inside your clothes on the days that matter most. Because in nine years, you have never once told me you were at peace with it.” He paused. “I couldn’t give you Daniel. But I thought perhaps I could give you this.”
Helen looked at him for a long moment. Then she said, “You extraordinary man!” She meant it completely. Richard’s expression shifted—something in it eased, the way a person looks when they have been holding their breath for a very long time and have finally been told it is all right to breathe. He glanced over her shoulder at Owen, who had stepped back to give them space.