The family room looked unchanged. Navy sectional. Framed photos. Toy basket. Reading lamp. Rain. The evidence of a life built carefully and, until tonight, believed in.
Elena sat on the far end of the sectional. Marco sat closer to the lamp. Between them, the distance of a marriage under sudden weather.
"Start," Elena said.
Marco rubbed his face with both hands. "Her name is Carmen."
The name landed in Elena's body before it landed in her mind. For a second the room tilted. She heard the rain more loudly. She saw, unbidden, a girl with the same dark wavy hair Sofia had, only older, wilder, laughing with her head thrown back in a backyard in Allentown that no longer belonged to any of them.
"Carmen," Elena said. The name came out flat. "My sister Carmen."
Marco nodded. He did not look away. That, at least, he offered her.