It showed a little girl standing beside an elderly woman beneath a huge yellow sun.
At the top, Chloe had written:
“My Grandma Is My Safe Place.”
I placed the drawing on the refrigerator.
Then I went into the laundry room and cried.
Not because I was sad.
But because, after everything she had endured, Chloe was beginning to feel like a child again.
The Letter That Arrived Two Years Later
Two years after the funeral, I received a letter from Julian.
It arrived in a plain envelope bearing the return address of the correctional facility where he was serving his sentence.
I stared at it for nearly an hour before opening it.
Inside were four handwritten pages.
Julian apologized for what he had done.
He claimed financial desperation had distorted his judgment and that he had convinced himself he could control the situation without causing permanent harm.
He wrote that he thought about Chloe every day.
