For a few seconds after my mother said she could not congratulate me for “defying God’s will,” no one moved.

way, by your grandmother too.”

“Eventually?”

I smiled. “Some grown-ups have to learn love after they have used fear for too long.”

When she is older, I will tell her more. I will tell her about the losses before her, not as shadows she must carry, but as stars we once cried under. I will tell her science helped bring her to us, and that science and faith continue reading …