“Should I come?”
“Yes.”
On the drive home, Nancy fell quiet in the back seat.
This time, I didn’t pretend to know.
Ethan watched the passing houses. “What if he doesn’t want me there?”
This time, I didn’t pretend to know.
Back in the present, Dorothy fell silent…
“Mark, the boy my mother made me give away was your son too.”
“I swear to you, I didn’t know.”
I looked at Ethan. Twenty-five. I tried to picture him as a baby and couldn’t get past the grown man sitting in my living room, waiting to find out whether I would make him leave.
“I didn’t know. I swear to you, I didn’t know.”
“Dorothy told me.”
His eyes stayed lowered.
For a moment, he barely moved.
“I would have come,” I said. “For both of you.”
Ethan pressed his lips together, but his chin trembled. I crossed the room before he could answer. Ethan stood, uncertain, and I put my arms around him.
For a moment, he barely moved. Then his hands gripped the back of my shirt.
“I wasn’t sure you’d want me here,” he whispered.
None of them belonged between Ethan and me.
I tried to answer, but all I managed was to hold him tighter.
