made my peace with never knowing.
My other five girls were at that wedding — Grace, Emma, Sophie, Lily, and June, who’s fifteen now, the baby I held while her mother packed suitcases.
June asked me that night, “Dad, do you wish she’d stayed?”
I thought about it honestly.
“No,” I said. “Because if she’d stayed, I’d have spent fifteen years being half of your parents.
Instead I got to be all of them.
I wouldn’t trade that. Not for anything. Not even to make it easier.”
June hugged me so hard I lost my balance.
Adele and her husband gave me the best gift at the reception, though they didn’t know it was a gift.
They announced they were staying in town. Close.
“Somebody’s got to help you with June’s teenage years,” Adele said. “You’re going to need backup. And you’re not doing the next four years of pink alone.”
