“You knew all along.”
Laughter came from the kitchen.
I followed the sound.
Arthur sat at the table.
Sophie was beside him.
My Daughter Chose the School Janitor Over Me at Graduation—Then He Pulled Out an Old Envelope.
Cake between them.
She was making him laugh about something that had happened at Westbridge High School years earlier.
And strangely—
he looked like he belonged there.
Maybe because he always had.
I sat across from him.
For the first time, I asked questions I should have asked decades earlier.
Where had he grown up?
Who raised him?
When had he learned about our mother?
Why had he chosen Bellmere?
Why Westbridge High School?
He answered everything.
Some answers hurt.
Others made us laugh.
None could give us back the years.
But we had something we didn’t have that morning.
Time ahead.
Before bed, Sophie hugged me again.
“You okay?”
I looked toward the kitchen, where my brother was washing dishes as though he had been doing it in my home forever.
