My Daughter Tried to Keep Me Out of the Lake House I Built, But When She Arrived for the Fourth of July, I Had Already Made Room

book, cloth napkins, and the framed photograph of Samuel on the unfinished porch.

When we arrived, I put his picture in the center of the dining table.

Ernestine touched the frame with one finger.

“He looks like a man who knew how to love,” she said.

“He did,” I said. “Exactly that.”

That first night none of us spoke much.

We sat on the porch in rocking continue reading …