Clara had warned me about Derek once.
At the time, I hadn’t understood what she meant.
She had simply looked at me across our kitchen table and said, “Your brother thinks every boundary is negotiable.”
I thought she was talking about his habit of showing up at our house without calling first.
Now, standing beside my wife’s coffin, those words sounded completely different.
My mother walked toward Lily.
“Sweetheart, you’re confused.”
Lily immediately stepped behind me.
“I am not!”
I knelt in front of her.
“Look at me.”
Her eyes were enormous.
“Tell Daddy exactly what happened.”
She wrapped both arms around my neck.
Then she leaned close to my ear.
“Mommy kept saying your name.”
My chest tightened.
“Okay.”
