“Marie,” she said. She turned the handle but it was locked. “Li-ling, are you okay?” A long moment passed. The truth was that I had loved my father more. The realization came to me in the same breath I knew, unquestionably, that my father must have been in great pain, and that my mother would never, ever abandon me. She, too, had loved him. Weeping, I rested my hands on the surface of the water.
