My stepdad raised me after I lost my mother — just hours before he d*ed, he gripped my hand and whispered, “There’s something I’ve hidden from you your entire life.”

I stood in the doorway and watched them.

Nora laughed at something Miriam said — a real laugh, surprised out of her — and Miriam smiled with Frank’s eyes, and something in my chest loosened in a way I hadn’t expected.

Later, after everyone had gone, I found Miriam’s recipe box on the counter.

I went through it slowly, not looking for anything in particular.

Near the back, behind a divider marked *Family*, I found a card in handwriting I recognized immediately.

Frank’s careful print, younger and steadier than the letter he had written me.

*Apple pancakes — Catherine’s recipe.

Don’t let Claire forget where these came from.*

I stood at the counter for a long time.

Then I took the card to the table and sat down with it, and Miriam came and sat beside me, and I read it to her out loud even though she probably already knew it by heart.