Five years passed the way the best years often do — quickly, gratefully, accumulating quietly into a life so settled and full that neither Lucien nor Ezra fully registered how much time had gone by until the morning they found themselves standing in Sam’s doorway, watching him fold the last of his belongings into boxes destined for a university three states away.

Those five years had carried their own small, cumulative milestones — Sam’s growing confidence on the school chess team, eventually placing well enough at a regional tournament that Roan, of all people, had driven three hours simply to watch him compete; a difficult stretch during his junior year...