Sublime

accretion

susurrus

somewhere her daughter belonged, somewhere safe from aspiration. It was better to build your life’s ceiling low.

He would know her handwriting anywhere.

Emeline had always seemed occupied with watching everyone else and trying to be helpful, but she’d stayed on the sidelines, as if it weren’t her turn to live. William had thought the hesitation was part of Emeline—part of her personality—but now it was gone. She seemed fully alive in front of him.