“You okay?” I asked.
He nodded.
“I was just thinking about Kate.”
I stood beside him.
“What were you thinking?”
“She would have loved this.”
I looked toward the hallway where the children were sleeping.
“Yes,” I said softly.
“She would have.”
Walter wiped his eyes.
“I wish she could see you.”
I took his hand.
“Maybe she can.”
He looked at me.
I smiled.
“Either way, she found me eventually.”
Walter nodded.
Then he pulled me into a hug.
For most of my life, I had wondered what it felt like to finally belong somewhere.
I thought it would feel dramatic.
Like fireworks.
Like some missing piece suddenly snapping into place.
It didn’t.
It felt smaller than that.
It felt like a chair being pulled out at the dinner table.
A plate being placed in front of you.
Someone saving you the last piece of cake.
Five children yelling for Grandpa from the next room.
And an old man sitting quietly beside you, finally no longer afraid that if he told you the truth, you would disappear.
I had spent my childhood believing I was the girl nobody came back for.
But I was wrong.
Someone had been looking.
