My husband became an organ donor as his final wish — after he d*ed, his doctor stopped me and said, “There’s something he made me promise to give you only after he was gone.”

I know this is not fair.*

*You are the most decent person I have ever known.

That is not a small thing to say.

It is the reason I am asking.*

*I’m sorry.

I am so sorry.*

*— Mark*

—

I folded the letter along its original creases.

My hands were steady by then, which surprised me.

The doctor was watching me carefully.

“Did you know?” I asked.

“He told me there was a child,” he said.

“He didn’t tell me the details.”

“Did he tell you what he was asking me to do?”

“No.”

I looked at the photograph again.

The little boy was sitting on a front step, squinting into the sun.

He was wearing a striped shirt with a small stain near the collar.

He looked like a child who had just been called in from playing and hadn’t quite stopped moving yet.