The purpose of family is to preserve life,’ Aunt Patti said. ‘We treat family members the way we’re supposed to treat everyone on the planet.

People get so frightened for no reason, but I’ll tell you, to live with no purpose is a far more frightening proposition… You bring yourself to say yes when you always thought the only possible...

I am remembering it now.

And that was the thing: you couldn’t just stand there gawking at the world. A car slipped by. Then another. It was as if she’d stood frozen by the river of the world and gratefully...

Every family has one living patriarch or matriarch, the final arbiter and repository of ancient family history, and Nicole’s Aunt Patti was the last woman standing.