my mother. Dad had made the wrong choice because he thought
he was protecting my future.
Jeffrey had done the same thing.
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So had I.
We’d all stayed silent because we thought silence was kinder.
It wasn’t.
My father had been scared.
***
Jeffrey came home from the hospital two days later.
Peter arranged for him to stay with family and receive care there. Nobody knows exactly how much time he has. But I’m not measuring it.
***
Yesterday, Peter drove his father to my house.
We sat on the porch where Jeffrey and I used to do homework as teenagers.
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He held my hand.
Jeffrey came home.
Jeffrey placed the wooden box next to me.
“I never actually officially asked you.” He smiled. “Ruth, would 19-year-old you have said yes?”
I thought about it. Then I looked at the man beside me.
“Yes.”
He smiled.
“And 60-year-old you?”
