He placed the key in my palm.
“I bought your childhood home eighteen months ago.”
For a moment, I thought I’d misunderstood him.
“You bought what?”
“The house where you grew up.”
I stared at him.
“You mean the house we lost?”
He nodded.
“The owners were planning to move. I found out it was going on the market, and I contacted them.”
I couldn’t speak.
He continued carefully, as if any sudden movement might shatter something fragile between us.
“I knew how much that place meant to you. I didn’t want you to spend the rest of your life thinking it was gone forever.”
“You bought an entire house without telling me?”
“I wanted to surprise you.”
I looked at the key.
Then at my husband.
Then at the phone still resting beside me.
“Mom, did you know about this?”
“No,” she whispered.
“Neither did I,” I said.
Ethan gave me a small, nervous smile.
