The capital of Norway is still Oslo.
Stop pretending you don’t know.
Sophie laughed loudly enough that another student looked over.
She folded the letter carefully.
Then she placed it inside her textbook.
Years later, she would still keep it.
Margaret lived another six years.
She spent those years differently from the decades before them.
She visited Claire’s home.
She attended birthdays.
She watched one granddaughter graduate from college.
She danced badly at another granddaughter’s wedding.
She forgave Nathan slowly.
Not completely.
But enough.
Nathan never asked for more than she could give.
Every Sunday, he drove from Madison to Milwaukee.
Even in snow.
Even when Margaret told him not to.
He brought dark roast coffee.
Never cookies.
Claire visited whenever she could.
Sometimes Margaret accidentally called her Emily.
Claire stopped correcting her.
Sometimes Claire called Margaret “Mom.”
The first time happened by accident.
They were in the kitchen at Claire’s house.
