I remembered his hands lifting me. His voice cheering at my school awards. The way he watched the doorway when I rolled into a room, like he was silently daring the world to hurt me.
All those years… he wasn’t stepping up because he had to.
He was stepping up because he couldn’t not.
The letter continued.
There’s more. And it’s the part that may hurt the most.
Elise left something for you. It’s been waiting all these years because I couldn’t bring myself to open it without you.
The key in this envelope is for the safe deposit box at Linden Federal. The smaller envelope is the lawyer’s information. It’s all legal and in your name.
Inside that box is a letter from your mother, written the week before the crash.
I wanted to give it to you sooner. I almost did a hundred times. But I was scared you’d ask questions I couldn’t answer. Scared you’d leave. Scared you’d see me as the man who ran away and came back too late.
I’m sorry, Mara.
