Her brother’s voice carried across the distance, steady and unmistakable. “If you cross that river, Lena, don’t come back. You won’t belong here anymore.”

“If you cross that river, don’t come back—you won’t belong here anymore.” — I tightened my hold on my son and stepped into the freezing current anyway, but halfway through, when I nearly lost my footing, a stranger walked straight into the water toward me and said, “I’ve been waiting for you,” and everything I thought I knew about my family …

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