in her life. She looked surprised by the timing. “Today is about Alice and Ben,” she said. I apologized, and she accepted that much.
That evening, I wrote three pages to explain myself. I read them the next morning and started again. The second letter was shorter. It acknowledged the conversations I had avoided and asked what a reliable first step would look like. I sent it only after Claire said she was willing to read it. Then I waited.
Our next meeting took place at a small café. Claire brought a calendar. We talked about practical arrangements, agreed to get professional help with the formal questions, and chose a gentle introduction that would fit the twins’ routine. There would be no surprise visits, no promises made on their behalf, and no demand that they call me anything they did not understand yet.
The first time I met them, Ben
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